Wesley Church

People Blessing People

Daily Devotional August 10

21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
      -Lamentations 3:21-23, NRSV

This week, we at Wesley Church will hold our annual “We Got Your Back” backpack festival, providing a tangible and practical expression of God’s love to families in our community. Obviously, Backpack (like everything else) will look a little different in this season of covid-tide. (The event will look more like a drive-through curbside pickup service than our typical throw-open-the-doors festival.) However, the core of the event, and the care and concern it demonstrates, will continue despite COVID-19. 
As we count down to the day when we distribute filled backpacks to children in our community, I thought it could be meaningful to write devotionals inspired by the items in my “backpack” — the work bag I bring with me each time I go to the church. With 5 days to go til Backpack, today’s devotional is inspired by one of my backpack staples: a day planner.

My day planner is a must-have item in my work bag. For years, my husband has been trying to get me to switch to a digital calendar on my smartphone… but I keep coming back to a conventional, tried-and-true, pen-and-paper calendar. My entire schedule — at times, it seems, my whole life — is inscribed in the little boxes on those pages. 

Of course, recently my calendar looks a little different. Items crossed out. Arrows pointing to when events have been rescheduled. Now-ubiquitous words like “virtual” or “Zoom.” The current state of my marked-up, crossed-out, arrow-inked calendar is the very picture of the kind of flexibility required by COVID. 

For a planner like me, that’s difficult. I like clear certainties. I like knowing what to expect. I like being able to plan. COVID interrupts all of that. In covid-tide, nothing is written in pen; everything is in pencil. I’ll likely have to erase it anyway, right? Can’t be sure of what tomorrow will bring. 

I may not be able to write the events and meetings and gatherings in pen… but perhaps there’s something else I can inscribe in those little calendar squares. “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,” Lamentations tells us, “his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23, NRSV). That’s what I can expect tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. Steadfast love. Unending mercy.
And I don’t even have to pencil that in. I can write it in pen.

Pastor Candy

Watch for steadfast love and mercy today, friends, and remember:all:

Our God is bigger than coronavirus. 
Our vision is bigger than coronavirus, too. 
We are people blessing people. 
We are Wesley Church.   

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