Devotion - Monday, November 28

This is a time of the year when preparing is spoken of all around us.  You are preparing for exams; you are preparing for Holiday travels; you may be preparing for gift exchanges; Alex and Caitlin are preparing to enter a covenant of marriage.

How are you preparing yourself as a child of God?

I read from I Thessalonians this morning the lines where Paul says:  "You became imitators of us and of the Lord."  My practice of prayer I imitated from Frank Showers.  My attention to those often overlooked I imitated from David Choate.

The best preparation I have undertaken as been to imitate those who do this well.

There were also verses from Isaiah this morning.  The prophet says:  "cease to do evil, learn to do good;  seek justice, correct oppression."  "Learn to do good."  It isn't always immediately apparent what the "good" is.  It won't always come second nature to us.  We do need to learn how to do good.  This is particularly true when we seek justice and to correct oppression.  These are evils which are systemic and thus easily not seen.

How are you preparing?  And will you allow the preparation for exams to blind you to the need for preparation in other aspects of your life?  Don't mishear me:  STUDY HARD AND DO WELL IN CLASS.  But you need to learn now how to attend to the immediate task while keeping your eye on those things which define us as a person.

Prepare well.