Prayer: Teacher, Lord, and friend, you guide me in your ways with patience and love. Through the noise and distractions, your word remains true, at the center of everything. Help me to see it, to know it, to love and to live it. Amen.
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther’s GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: Amid wallet-sized school pictures, recipes for protein bowls and the perfect chocolate chip cookie, magnetized contact info on our library and takeout places, is centered my framed Bible quote of 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21. This calligraphied and decorated verse was my creative production in a Women’s Retreat at Camp Mount Luther years ago. That weekend, I spent a happy afternoon in the company of several “mothers” from my church as well as my own mom. They shared stories and wisdom; we all shared laughter. At the end of the day, Pastor Sarah Hershberger gathered our creations and self-addressed envelopes and we bid each other goodbye. About a year later, I received this pretty little missive in the mail from Sarah. It was a powerful symbol of God’s Word being also my word, to myself, and it has resided prominently on the billboard that is my refrigerator. I read it daily, sometimes several times a day. I may not pray without ceasing, but that verse anchors me to a creator who seeded wisdom in everything and everyone He’s placed in my path. He trusts me to hold fast to that which is good. I trust Him to help me sort it all out. And I know when I get it wrong, he guides me back to the lesson so I can learn and try again. --Heather LeBlanc
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