I had forgotten they even existed. It has been so long since they have appeared. But immediately I knew they were back. I couldn’t believe it. It was just what I needed on this challenging run. My pockets of goodness returned.
Running early in the morning, it is often really humid – as if the earth has held all the moisture at my height. It can be thick enough to cut it with a knife, or so it seems. These make for challenging mornings. But as fall begins to appear, even if just a glimpse, there are these little air pockets that also appear. It is as if I am slogging along on my run and all of a sudden, I run through a small area that has a noticeable temperature difference – as if someone turned the air conditioner on in just this little area. It is surprisingly refreshing. I call these little events “pockets of goodness”. I feel them at just the right time and it energizes me to keep going.
Now, before you think I have lost my mind (I probably have), this happens early in the run too. So it isn’t as if I have gone delusional from the miles. These puffs of cooler air truly are pockets of goodness on an otherwise challenging day.
These are not the only pockets of goodness, though. I appreciate these because I can feel their instant relief. But I wonder how many are right around us and we haven’t paid attention. I wonder if there are pockets of goodness in an otherwise difficult day that keep us going. Could it be the phone call or the smile or the card? Could it be the text or the good meal or just the kindness of a stranger? When times are especially difficult, we should be looking out for these pockets of goodness. They are there, we just need to look out for them. And here’s a thought…if we don’t feel a pocket of goodness, maybe we should be one.
May goodness and mercy surround you today.
Focus Scripture:
Psalm 23:6
6 Surelygoodness and mercyshall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
What do you consider important today? I don’t know about you, but when I get up, I think through my day. What do I need to get done, what is a requirement, and what things can wait? Lists are often helpful to me because I can see all the different items that are vying for my time. Since time is limited and there is usually more to do than I can accomplish, it is easier if I can prioritize. Ideally, to get the list done would be fantastic. But since that rarely happens, it is better just to see what is most important.
How do you pick what should go to the top of your list? I usually go by deadlines. If something is due today, that goes to the top of the list. When someone asks me to help with something, I always remind them they need to give me a deadline or it will stay on my list indefinitely. Deadlines keep me focused and help to get that work done. And there is some satisfaction to marking things complete. There is a sense of relief to see the list filled with accomplishments rather than demands.
It seems the problem is that we don’t often plan what should be most important on our list. If my system just requires me to take care of things that are most demanding, when do I spend time for those things which are really important but not as demanding? When do I take time for my family or for rest? When do I spend time exercising and working on my fitness? We often push those things aside. When do I spend time looking for opportunities to serve and to reach out to others? When do I find time to pray and study and focus on being the disciple God has called me to be? Since those things are not always the most demanding, they can get pushed to the bottom of the list. Yet these things are what makes real life. These things are often the most important for us mentally, physically, and spiritually. We neglect the most important for the most demanding. Today, maybe take a look at your list and figure out what is most important rather than what is most demanding. What is God calling you to do today? Today’s focus scripture reminds me that loving others is most important. So I’m going to work on that.
Focus Scripture:
Galatians 5:14
14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
We offer, we receive, we hear, we give, and it can become part of us. Thanks. It is amazing how gratefulness changes our outlook on an otherwise difficult situation. When it is sincere, when it comes from our heart, when it is offered in love, thank you carries much further than the words. The simple words uttered from our mouths – thank you – can be powerful.
What if today we focused on giving thanks? I don’t simply mean thinking of things we are grateful to have – although that’s always a good idea. Instead, how about looking for things actively? What might it look like if we sought out opportunities to give thanks? How might our perspective change on an otherwise regular day?
In a time when we do not get out as much, we may work at home, and we may not see many people, this can seem challenging. But it really is not. We still have phones and can still send cards and messages. We can send a handwritten note of thanks to someone just to let that person know we are grateful. We can call and just express thanks. We can text or message someone. We are not without ways to communicate. And we really don’t have to think very hard about those we are grateful.
Not a lot has to be said. A simple ‘thank you’ will do. It just might change a day – and the change might be yours.
So, thank YOU for reading, for sharing and for your support. I am truly grateful for YOU.
Focus Scripture:
1 Corinthians 1:4-5
4 I give thanks to myGod always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
I love music. I have my favorite genres, but I appreciate most all music. There is just something about the movement that invokes emotion like nothing else. It can be a song of our heart or just a melody that gets us moving. I love to sing and just enjoy. It doesn’t mean I can sing well, it just means I love to sing. Every once in a while, songs get stuck in my head and they play on a loop. I hear them over and over and over. I catch myself humming the tune even when I am doing something else. It is enough to drive me crazy. It isn’t that I dislike the song – it is actually catchy. It is the song on repeat that is the problem. I end up trying to listen to another tune to offset the one in my head. Sometimes it works and sometimes not so much.
I recently found a song that is my current “get my up and going” song. If I want a little motivation, I just play the song. I can’t sit still when I play it. It’s enjoyable to me. You may see me riding down the road looking like I have an affliction – just know it’s my business and I will be alright. I’m sure we all have those songs that move us and help to motivate us.
That’s great when we have the motivation for us to move – but what about the times when songs of hurt or pain or struggle play in our minds? What about the times when we are captured in the loop of depression, anxiety, grief, or sadness? Those songs not only suck the life out of us, but don’t allow us to even hear there is something more. There is a time and place for all music, but not to play on loop so much that they begin to eat away at our core. We can feel trapped by our current situation and not see a different way. We can become so overwhelmed that the songs in our head all remind us of failure rather than possibility. And it isn’t as easy as changing the station.
Today’s Psalm speaks life to me in these situations. The Psalmist is in a rough place (we all get there sometimes). We all find ourselves trapped in the pit like the Psalmist at some point. But what does God do? He hears, he protects, he secures…and then he does something that is often missed. He gives the Psalmist a new song. This is a song of trust and strength and renewal. It is a song that others notice has changed the Psalmist. God takes the old song off the loop and gives a new song.
I don’t know what you are going through today, but if you find yourself in a loop of anxiety, depression, grief, sadness or just general overwhelming feelings – I pray God gives you a new song. I pray he gives you something to sing about that is joyful and hopeful and full of his amazing love. I pray he changes the station and fills you will life. Sing a new song, God…sing a new song over us.
Focus Scripture:
Psalm 40:1-3
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the desolate pit,[a] out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
I really enjoy watching transformations. There are home transformation shows on all the time. They take an old, abandoned, neglected home and transform it into something completely different. What seems to have no potential becomes something truly remarkable. It is hard to believe they are even the same houses in the end. They look to improve functionality and update the style while keeping character pieces. I find it fascinating. And there are shows about body transformations. People go through complete transformations as they learn to eat better and exercise. They take on a whole new lifestyle and become someone completely different, at least on the outside. When they are done, you can’t even believe your eyes. It is truly something you have to see to believe.
What is it about these transformations? What we don’t fully understand or see is the amount of work that goes in. If we are not involved in the steps of the transformation, we don’t really know all the struggles and sacrifice it took to get there. For the home, they had to tear out all the old stuff. Inevitably there are problems. It is to be expected. There are setbacks. There are hidden issues that no one is prepared to tackle. There are the long days and nights of sweat labor poured into the new drywall and the new floors. Everything has to be rethought and reimagined. If it is done correctly, it is a matter of remaking this house with careful detail and intention.
For the person that goes through their own transformation, we don’t really know what it was like to get up each morning to exercise. We don’t get what it meant to make better food choices and stop the habits that had caused the issues initially. We cannot comprehend the mental, physical and emotional fatigue that goes into every step, every decision, and every setback. So much of a person’s life is poured into this transformation. They have to learn to believe in themselves and their own potential. They have to see themselves differently. It is way more challenging that we could ever understand unless we have been there.
Transformations are like that. They look incredible on the outside, but so much work and effort…so much sacrifice…has gone into the change. It is not something that is done in a day or a week or a month. It is a lifetime of continual work. Transformation is about sacrifice on a daily basis. It is not easy.
Yet, this is what we are challenged with in the scripture today. This is what is put before us. We are called to a place of sacrifice in order to transform. We are called to live differently. We are called to put in this daily difficult challenging work to transform. Let’s consider this as we hear from
Romans 12:1-8
12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect. 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 12:6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 12:7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 12:8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
We are encouraged in this scripture to work for transformation. We struggle with this ultimate call to be something unique, different than this world. We are called to do this incredible work of love – to live it, to live by it, to let love guide us. We are called to something that pushes us to become more like Christ. And this takes work. Just like transformation of houses and of bodies takes daily, difficult, struggling work – sacrifice, even – so does our spiritual transformation.
The good news is that we have the ultimate trainer for our journey. We have the transformation guru to help us. We have someone that has been doing this forever and he is the best. We have the Holy Spirit as our trainer. He is with us, he takes up residence – really – in us. He becomes so much a part of us that if we listen to him, we become a new creation. We still do the work, but he guides the process. We still struggle daily to become all he has created us to be, but he encourages us to keep going. Trainers do not do the work for others, they simply guide the process. They know what we need and what we don’t. We choose to listen or not. If we don’t listen, we don’t change. If we do, we find results. Sometimes they are slow, painful, rough results – but they are results, nonetheless. And results brings really good news.
Sacrifice means we have to give up things. It means we give up our hold on earthly goods. It means we give up our single minded focus on ourselves. It means we give up the baggage that is holding us back. And it means we work on this daily. We are constantly giving it our all. If we take a day off, we can get off track so easily. We can’t give up to achieve real transformation.
God really is the master of transformations. Look at his good creation for an example. The most obvious is the butterfly. What a miracle it is to watch this take place. But there are so many more. From tadpoles to frogs – from seeds to fruit – from tiny specs to flowers – trees transform every season – flowering, providing shade with their leaves, changing colors, losing leaves – always in the process of transforming. It happens all around us without us even noticing.
For us, we transform by hearing God, by listening. We transform when we read and study God’s word. We transform when we daily work to use our gifts for God’s glory. We transform when we hear God call us and we follow. We transform when we love others with a radical love. We transform when we share kindness with an unkind world. We transform as we seek God every single day. We seek him actively. We seek him with our whole hearts. We seek…and when we seek, we find.
When we transform, we begin to work together for God. We begin to transform the church and the world. We transform the places around us when we share God’s love. God’s love will always change things, always. God’s love will transform, always.
Are you ready to put in the effort to become more like Christ? It is a daily struggle – a willingness to listen to the Holy Spirit – a giving up of self and embracing what God has for us – sacrificing our own wants for God’s – working with others, sharing our gifts for the greater good. These challenging times call us to do the difficult work of transformation. Are you willing to sacrifice? We are in this together.
This morning on my morning run, I was met by 2 deer. That’s not such a big deal. I see deer often while driving and running. They took a look at me and I guess thought I looked fairly harmless, maybe friendly. They were right. I kept moving forward like I always do. At the last minute, they decided it was best to head back into the woods. One deer went the route I expected. She went back along the path they had come. It was a clear cut path, no obstacles. The other deer, not so much. This deer headed through the woods, and I mean straight through the brush of the woods. When I looked, I saw no path. I did not see a way through. It looked thick and covered. But she saw differently. She saw a path just big enough for her to escape. It was a route she identified that I would have never picked. I was amazed at how she seemed to disappear with just a leap. It was as if she was made for that path and the path was made for her.
I wonder how many times we don’t realize there is a path in front of us. We don’t see another way. We see the easy way and sometimes we take it. We don’t take the time to consider there may be another way. Jesus’ way isn’t easy. He makes it pretty clear that to follow him means thinking beyond the path that is most obvious. The way that looks most enticing may in fact be the way that leads to problems. It just might be what we don’t see at first is actually the path we were made to follow.
Jesus’ way looks like love and peace and joy in a world filled with anything but those things. It means reaching outside of ourselves to be kind and do justice and love mercy. It looks like a path that isn’t always clearly marked, but we are just the right fit because we were made for this. It’s often difficult, unconventional and scary. But if Jesus leads the way, we must follow. What an adventure this path will offer! I will do my best to see and follow the challenging path of Jesus.
Focus Scripture:
Psalm 42:1-2
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
Our world is conditional. We find ourselves putting conditions on most everything. I will do this, BUT… I will be glad to help, IF… This will be good WHEN… We want to condition it. If we put a condition on it, we have an out. It really just negates what we are saying. We want something in return or we want to make sure that our interests are covered. We want to make sure our perspective is taken into consideration. We all do it. It really comes naturally.
I am grateful that God’s love is not conditional for me. I am so thankful that he doesn’t say he loves me BUT. I can’t imagine being loved by God IF. And I know I will never be worthy enough. I know I will never be good enough. I know I won’t earn his love. And I know he loves me even when I am a mess. He doesn’t wait for me to be perfect, since I never will be. He doesn’t sit by and look for me to do enough good things. He simply loves me.
What if we really understood this? What if we really took seriously that God loves us so much and there aren’t any conditions? Would it change the way we see the world? Would it change the way we see the person in the mirror? Would it change the way we love others? I think so. If we really take seriously that we are loved by the Creator of this world, we have a well so deep to pour out love on others. We experience the world in a new way because we experience God in a new way. We may find we are more forgiving. We may find we have patience with others. We may even find our love is a little less conditional. So let’s put the BUT away…and realize just how much we are loved…no conditions. I want to live like that.
Focus Scripture:
1 John 4:7-11
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
The weather has been so stifling hot this summer. It seems to be way more humid with higher temperatures than I remember. I’m sure it is just my perspective because I am living in the middle of it. I will probably say the same thing next year when the summer heat bakes the earth. But it is really so very hot. So when it cools down just a few degrees, it is amazing what a difference it makes. The morning temperatures actually fall below 70 and it is as if I have walked into a new dimension. What would have been warm before is now a welcome coolness. When coming from the summer’s oven, the mildness of the morning is so refreshing.
The interesting part for me is that the temperatures are not drastically different. It is more that we have gotten accustomed to the extreme heat and humidity for quite a while. We have an expectation that it will remain this hot for what seems like forever. When we are surprised by a few degree drop, we are thrilled. It is as if we can breathe again.
We are in a time of such division and chaos. We go through these cycles. People are more vocal and it seems that we do not always let the best of ourselves shine. We hear division on the news, we see it on TV, we read about it – we are filled with the difficulties of transition in our world. It can become almost a norm that we expect. So when there are small differences, it seems to make a huge impact. When someone is kind, it really shines through. When someone helps another, it means so much. When someone even smiles and says thank you, we are surprised.
So why don’t we surprise someone with kindness today? Why don’t we go out of the norm and help someone else? Why don’t we make a little change that could make a big difference? We could be the exception that really does brighten the day. And we could do it simply because we are loved by an amazing God that is with us every day. The little differences can make huge impacts. Be the difference.
Focus Scripture:
John 13:34-35
34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
When kids are growing up, we do our best to teach them to share. They have a natural inclination to grab their own toy (or someone else’s) and claim it. They exclaim, “it’s mine!” as they hold the toy close and dare anyone to try and take it. As parents or teachers or friends, we try and help out. We show the advantages to sharing and what it means to take turns. We try to guide others in how to work together with limited toys. Working together and sharing just makes for a better play area. The “it’s mine” attitude just doesn’t work well.
As we grow older, these lessons sometimes stick and sometimes don’t. We hold onto things with all our might and continue to proclaim ownership. We worked for it, we earned it, it is mine. No one has any right to what is mine. We hold so tightly to what we think is ours that we can’t see or hear that there might be a better way.
Today’s focus scripture proclaims ownership, but it is not our ownership. It doesn’t say that if we earn it, it is ours. It doesn’t talk about how we can fight for it and it is ours, fair and square. It doesn’t suggest that we hold tightly to it because we deserve it. Actually, the scripture tells us that everything is God’s. Everything on the earth – everything – is God’s. It even reads that everyone is his. That sure isn’t how we live. We don’t consider that this world could be God’s. We work way too hard on a daily basis for it to be God’s. We spend all our energy on attaining things that surely God wouldn’t expect us to give it to him. But that is a problem – we don’t have to give it to him – it is already his, and so are we. We are under the illusion it is all ours.
If that really is the case – if the earth is God’s and everything in it – then we probably should take another look at what we are doing. We likely should look at the earth a little differently. This morning, as the sun was beginning to peak out behind the clouds and the coolness was spread over the ground, I could only give thanks that this really is God’s. I give thanks that the birds sing because they are his. I give thanks that I see the beautiful colors he has created for all to experience. We want to make a mess of things, but God is the ultimate creator. He continues to produce good, even in the face of such destruction. God is still the owner of it all.
And one last thing…it says we are his too. We are God’s. We should not look at ourselves as a mess or a tragedy. We are beautiful creations of his. We are his. We are good (sometimes the good can be hard to see, but it is there). It is all God’s, including us.
Maybe that changes how we see our day, how we take care of what we experience, and how we feel about God’s creation staring us in the mirror. We are God’s. Let’s live like it.
Focus Scripture:
Psalm 24:1-2
1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; 2 for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
You are important. You make a difference. Your life is valuable and you mean something. Sometimes we forget it. Sometimes we don’t realize our value. And sometimes others have diminished our worth and we have mistakenly listened. You hold more value than you can comprehend and you have much still to accomplish.
You may be wondering how I know this. You may not think I am just making this up or writing this in general. But I am really writing this for you…yep, you. How do I know you are valuable and important and make a difference? How do I know you are treasured and a gift? How do I know there is so much more ahead for you? I know because I know you were created for good. I know you were designed perfectly. You were shaped and molded, given life and breath for a reason, and it is good. I know that when you were made, you were made beautifully. I know this because I know the Creator. God doesn’t make mistakes. He creates and it is good. He creates and it is beautiful. He creates and there is life. This is because of the amazing artist that he is. And you are an amazing work by the most amazing Creator. Yes, you are.
Since you are a gift and you make a difference, it enables you to make a difference in the lives of others. You have this opportunity to do the good you have been created to do. You have this life to fulfill your goals and missions. There are good things which await.
One more time, hear that you are valuable, you are important, and you make a difference. You have been given this incredible life for good. Go do good.
Focus Scripture:
Ephesians 2:10
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY 
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