From the Pastor's Pen

Pastor Sally’s Devotional 5/1

| May 1, 2020

Happy May Day!

May day is a special day for me because it is the birthday of my first born son, Stephen.  May day always brings back memories of being a new mom.  It was such a steep learning curve for me.  As the youngest child in my family, I knew very little about caring for babies.  I remember telling the OB nurses they needed to teach me everything I needed to know in four days!  They thought I was exaggerating, but I wasn’t.

What I had been learning as I waited for Stephen’s birth and what I would learn again in the coming months at home with a new baby was the importance of patience!  Caring for an infant takes lots of patience.  Nothing happens quickly.  Changing clothes for a baby is time consuming.  Feeding a baby takes a long time and happens over and over again throughout the day.  Comforting a crying baby take patience and calm.  Comforting a colicky baby takes the patience of Job.  Stephen had colic every evening for about 4-5 hours beginning around 4:00 in the afternoon. 

This morning I found I was feeling impatient.  My first clue was being irritated with Mike over something very small.  I caught it immediately.  Wow!  I’m feeling impatient!  I need to be careful.  I want to be careful when I’m feeling impatient because I don’t want to hurt someone I love. 

About the time I had come to this conclusion, my eyes fell on the serving dish I have pictured here.  I picked it up at a local artist shop in Traverse City last summer.  The words around the edge of the rim is a blessing for health, love and happiness and that we might have joy in our homes.  At the bottom of the dish is a quote from I Cor. 13: 4:  Love is patient and kind.  I think these words are intricately intertwined.  Love shows itself as patient and kind to the beloved, but if you aren’t feeling very patient, kindness is going to be hard to come by and you aren’t likely to be very loving.  On the other hand, when you know you want to love someone, it is good motivation to try to summon up a little patience and kindness.  Likewise, if you can do a random act of kindness, even when you don’t feel like it, you are likely to find love and patience blooming in your heart.  I find these three words are watchwords for me.  They help me be better than I’m incline to be.

I hope you have a lovely day, filled with patience and kindness.

Peace,

Pr. Sally

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