Received: 2025-12-19 18:57:01

Please pray that a good woman J. will receive many more calls and messages with offers of a home for a cat whose owner is seriously ill and cannot care for her. She will freeze to death on the street, but the shelter will euthanize her. Only a short time left. s. Pray for pet safety, protection and home. Thank you

“How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” (Annie Dillard)

From the moment our bodies awaken, our eyes begin to open, and we enter into the ordinary wonder of a brand new day.

What do you do with the first few moments of your day? Does what comes ‘first’ really matter?

We gather as the church on the first day of the week and we worship together, because we believe it forms us. And it does.

But the rituals of our ordinary days form us so much more. The day in, day out patterns of where we point our eyes, our hearts. Our lives and our loves are shaped by what we do again and again.

From the very first moments of your day, your life is being formed; you are being formed.

When you awake, do you breathe in the wonder of the life that courses through your veins? Or do you rehearse with worry and anxiety the coming events of the day?

Do you pause in the stillness and tune your heart to God? Or do you launch headfirst into the mad rush of ‘things to be done’ and ‘hills to be climbed’?

Do you reach for a Bible to encounter the presence of God? Or for your phone, and its endless stream of entertainment, stimulation, information.

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. It is shaping who you become, whether you want it to or not. What will you put first?

Contemplations
First Things First

Ready for what's next?

Bible Study
Journaling the Bible - Psalm 23

Because of that, interacting with Scripture is like a ‘superfood’ of spiritual growth. And yet as we build the habit of reading scripture into our rhythms – which is excellent – we can start to speed over parts of the story that we’ve heard over and over again. And so sometimes what’s right in front of us can become invisible, because we’re so used to it. 

Contemplations
Rhythms of Grace

“Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” I love that translation of this verse... 

Guided Prayer
Loving Kindness Prayer

I want you to simply picture yourself, either as you are now, or maybe a younger version of yourself. See yourself in your mind, and just try to hold yourself with a soft, open, and loving heart. And now imagine yourself literally being held, cupped by God’s great big hands.