Daily Devotion

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”   -Luke 1:37

Our chaplain during our week at Camp Luther started off each of our evening chapel times with a moment of silence. He referred to this quiet reflective time set on the shores of Lake Erie as a thin place, a location where the distance between heaven and Earth collapses (taken from a concept found in Celtic theology). 

During our last worship service together, our chaplain sent us out from our camp bubble with a challenge to be thin places ourselves – to be a person who embodies shortening the distance between heaven and Earth. WOW! How do I do that? How do I pass this down from generation to generation?

I looked to our Bible Story in our daily Discovery Time and found a wonderful example – Mary. Mary was literally called to shorten the distance between heaven and Earth by physically bearing God’s son. We read in the Gospel of Luke that Mary not only accepts God’s call, but rejoices in what God is calling her to do, which will totally turn her life upside down by the way. 

Perhaps Mary understood the magnitude of what she was saying “yes” to, maybe she only had an inkling, but what we do see is that Mary could say yes to God immediately because she understood God’s faithfulness. 

God calls each of us to faithfulness as well and blesses us each with a variety of talents to use as we work to build his kingdom here on earth, to become thin places. Sometimes we can clearly recognize our gifts and how to apply them; sometimes we discover that we are being called to work for change on issues that seem overwhelming or that we can’t possibly fully understand the scope of … kinda like Mary. Thankfully, God does not call us because of our ability to understand, but because of His faithfulness to us from generation to generation.

• What is something that God has called you to say “yes” to?
• Is God calling you to say “yes” to something new?
• How has God worked through you to draw others closer to Him?

Dear Lord, there is so much that we do not understand, yet we desire to be faithful to your call in our lives. Help us to hear you better, give us the courage to follow you, and allow others to see you reflected in each of us. Amen.