So You've Been Asked to Give Devotions?
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YOU’RE NOT ALONE!
The more I live, it seems to me
To wax content you need to be
Aware of all your blessings there
Along your path and sometimes where
Brambles block and slow the going
Sudden storms with clouds a’showing
Cast a pall o’er every day-
We doubt decisions made, we may
Wonder if we’ll be all right?
When everything is black as night.
But I’ve found this to be the case
No matter how hopeless your place
You can be thankful, helpful, caring
And cheerful, too, despite the wearing
Those trials, sore, traumatic, too
Wills sometimes lead us onward through
To unexplored so far untrod
Pathways...which lead us straight to God;
With thankful hearts, relief sublime
HE’S BEEN THERE WAITING ALL THE TIME!
Being thankful is related to being happy. Just as there are degrees of temperature and love, there are many ways of being happy and contented. But, it’s impossible to be happy without expressing gratitude..Think about it! The cause and effect syndrome. The natural result of whatever caused you to be happy is appreciation.
If you are a happy individual, chances are that you are aware of the unexpected kindnesses that continually come your way. Conversely if you are a Gloomy Gus and were asked, "What are you praising God for today?" – a normal response would be a quick "Nothing!"
True, problems seem insurmountable at times and survival, an intense struggle, when we’re caught up in a regular logjam of circumstances beyond our control. Granted, then it may take a great deal of Spartan effort to find anything for which to be thankful! But like rolling a snowball, you have to make a beginning. It may take a whole day to find even one small blessing, perhaps, but once you’ve found the first one, the second one’s already in your sights!
For that’s the way it is...like the snowball, the more you roll it, the bigger it gets. You’ll soon find yourself in possession of a huge stockpile of blessings you never knew you had! This behooves us to make the effort and really work at it, especially when the going gets tough, and we need a positive attitude.
When challenged sorely, our confidence in ourselves is shaken, and it’s easier to do the opposite of expressing thanks: voice an audible complaint. Complaining leads to criticism, which thwarts our appreciation for smaller blessings. Criticism has the same properties as acid. Lacking control, it eats away at whatever it comes into contact with.
A constant stream of critical words can eat away at another’s confidence in himself, lowering his self esteem, and the criticizer loses control when he makes a habit of griping. Although sometimes necessary, when it is, I t should be first steeped in love and proffered sparingly.
Did you know that it’s impossible to praise God and complain in the same breath? Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? James 3:11.
A grateful heart reflects love. Conversely a complainer clouds over with dissatisfaction. We neglect a more constructive business of reflecting love, when we give in to griping.
Despite the hopelessness of a bad situation, the antidote is to reach out in a deliberate effort to help someone who needs it. A three dimensional effect ensues: you encourage someone else, you’re serving the Lord, [we’re to bear one another’s burdens] and you’re changing your own perspective.
In conclusion if we cultivate the habit of watching for our blessings and promptly thank the Lord for each one, the irritations that crop up each day lose their power to annoy us.
Our Dear Heavenly Father,
Grant us that we may become explorers with enthusiasm discovering new to us every day the manifestations of Thy Grace;
Let our hearts be wells, overflowing with pure praise and heart felt thanks in appreciation for every blessing which You so liberally have bestowed up on us
Thank You that You love us that we’re never alone
Because of Jesus,
AMEN
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About the Book
At our UMW Church meetings I was constantly being asked, "Shirley, why don’t our program booklets include Devotions? I don’t find anything in them I can use, and working the way I do, I don’t have much time to hunt something up –" For this reason I began writing my own Devotions. As God revealed a new truth to me, I shared it with anyone who would listen. Thus my book is an accumulation of devotions that I have written and given over the years at group gatherings. One overheard comment was fed back to me, "I always like it when Shirley gives devotions, because there’s always something I can take home with me." Naturally this inspired me to keep on writing Devotions! Hopefully, my book So You’ve Been Asked to Give Devotions? will meet the need of others who may be asked to provide inspiration for their meetings. Most of my Devotions have been timed out to read an average of 7-10 minutes, or two in 15 – depending on how fast you read with several suitable for holidays.
About the Author
I was raised on a 265 acre farm a mile west of Alpine, Indiana and graduated from Connersville Senior High during the Great Depression when I was sixteen. After a year at home, my Grandmother, alarmed that I would never meet anyone to marry stuck in the hills, sent me to Indiana Business College in Muncie where my older brother attended Ball State Teachers College, also in Muncie. Grandma paid my college tuition and for my room at the YWCA and I worked for my meals as a waitress in their tearoom. To earn pocket money, I talked my way into a Saturday job at Millers Dress Shop, where I had made friends with a girl who worked there. Meanwhile my high school chum had married and moved to Indianapolis and was anxious for me to visit her. When I explained I couldn’t afford to come, she mailed a round trip bus ticket and promised a date with a young man who worked at Allison Engineering with her husband, whom they agreed would be perfect for me. Would you believe I fell in love at first sight with John McCoy and told him so? To which he protested that was totally impossible, as I didn’t know him! Three months later we were married in E. 10th St. Methodist Church in Indianapolis. My Grandma was so delighted she paid for the wedding, a dinner at the Claypool Hotel with a harpist providing the dinner music – her mission accomplished! With Pearl Harbor came the Draft. John was classified 1-A for immediate military service. He didn’t want to leave me in a strange town alone when he left, so we moved in with my folks on the farm until he had to go. Upon becoming a new father, his 1-A status was changed to 4-F and was further deferred due to his working on a farm. That winter we both got jobs at the American Central, a defense plant. We lived on my salary and banked his and soon had a down payment on our little bungalow in Connersville, and became a family unit on our own. We raised four children, Joan, Jill, Jane, and John II. I was a stay at home Mom and I defy anyone to say I didn’t work! John and I were both raised in the Methodist Church, so we joined Connersville’s First Methodist Church and attended faithfully every Sunday with our family. Soon I was teaching children’s Sunday School. Hence, it was only natural that family related incidences appeared in the devotions and poetry I write. John and I were sweethearts until the day he died of lung cancer. Currently I serve as secretary and press reporter for four organizations, sing in the Church Chancel Choir, teach a Young Adult S.S. Class, am learning to be computer savvy – plus working on a book of poetry.