Filled with His goodness, lost in His love

Today is Friday, the twenty-third day of January, 2026, in the second week of Epiphany.

May the peace of Christ surround you and yours today and every day!

It is day 23 of 2026, with 342 days left in the year.

26 days until Ash Wednesday

It is day 24,788 of my life.

Daily writing prompt

List five things you do for fun.

View all responses

This should be fun. But it won’t be one of the things on my list.

1. Reading
2. Playing video games (although my wife might argue that I’m not having “fun,” based on the sounds that emanate from me while I’m playing)
3. Listening to music
4. Playing music
5. Bacon Cooking (yes, I think cooking is fun)

It’s a halfway normal Friday. I’m at work at the library computer center, but C is not yet working. I’m not 100% sure when she will begin working from home, but I think it was three weeks after the surgery.

I’m still dealing with elevated blood pressure, but am in communication with my cardiologist about it. It has not yet gotten to “emergency” status, but is, nevertheless, concerning. Especially considering that as recent as five days ago, it seemed fine. And I can’t think of anything that has changed in that time frame. In addition, it seems I have done something to my right shoulder, which is giving me some pain, occasionally.

We’re still waiting to see if the winter storm is going to appear as threatened (I suppose I should say “predicted,” but it feels more like a threat) tonight. It is already raining, on and off, this morning, but the temperature isn’t supposed to drop below freezing until close to midnight tonight. The library has already announced that it will be closed tomorrow. I wasn’t scheduled to work anyway, so that won’t affect me.

The temperature is supposed to drop all day tomorrow, reaching a low of around 12 degrees on Sunday morning. It looks like there is a chance of precipitation all day tomorrow, and the temperature may not get above freezing until Tuesday afternoon (cue Moody Blues music). This puts Monday’s work schedule into hazy territory. It is supposed to be sunny for most of Sunday, but with temps staying below freezing, not much of the ice will melt away. So I’m not expecting to be working Monday, at least in the morning. I think we will know something about that tomorrow, depending on if everything happens as predicted.

My biggest concern, at this point, is if the power grid holds. We sure don’t want a repeat of 2021, when our house was without power for more than 36 hours. But we have food we can eat if it does go out. I even have a manual can opener. We also have some wood for the fireplace, and our hot water heater is gas, so we should have hot water.

JESUS TIME

“Send me, O Lord, into the tasks of this day with a rejoicing heart. Teach me to labor diligently, to eat and drink to Your glory, and to think and plan to the ends You have laid out before me. That I may be truly fitted for the day, remind me again of the mighty work of my Savior, Jesus Christ, who redeemed me and in whom my sin is forgiven and my place with You forever assured. Impress upon my heart this day that while there is nothing holy about my life, my speech, or my faith without Your grace and mercy surrounding me, that with You I can faithfully help my neighbor and be of service to him. Teach me to look upon my life today as yet another opportunity to serve my fellowmen. Let me see in the routine of my daily tasks, in the need of my family and those who depend on me, in the want and struggle of the world about me, the good work You have prepared in advance for me to do. Grant that I be ready to forgive, earnest in rejoicing with those who are happy, quick in sympathy, and zealous in bearing the burdens of my fellowman, in Jesus’ name. Amen.” 
(Lutheran Book of Prayer, Prayer 14, Friday Morning) 

Dear Lord, “Direct, control, suggest this day all I design or do or say that all my pow’rs with all their might in Thy sole glory may unite” (LSB 868:5). You have awakened me for another day of service and witnessing to Your greatness. Grant me opportunities to do so with a cheerful spirit. Give me patience and perseverance where needed. May my service encourage other Christians to witness and serve You. Keep far from me Satan and his temptation to sin. Watch over those whom I love. Guard them with Your holy angels and strengthen their faith and trust in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 
(Portals of Prayer, Prayer for Friday Morning) 

O God, you are my God;  
earnestly I seek you;  
my soul thirsts for you;  
my flesh faints for you,  
as in a dry and weary land  
where there is no water.  
(Psalms 63:1 ESV) 

Today I am grateful:

1. For the love that held Jesus on the cross 
2. That my God will never leave me nor forsake me 
3. That I can walk every minute of every day in His presence 
4. For Your steadfast love, O Lord, which is better than life to me 
5. For the transformation of the Holy Spirit in me, over the last eleven months, which makes me a reflection of Christ to others; may I faithfully behold Him, that that reflection is also faithful and undimmed 

Lord, in Your mercy, hear, now, the prayers lifted up to you for all who need strength, healing, comfort, and peace. 

If you are reading this, I encourage you to stop and pray for someone, at this time. Or, if there is something on your heart, please leave a comment. What can I pray for you?

Psalm of the Day – Psalm 1 

Blessed is the man  
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,  
nor stands in the way of sinners,  
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;  
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,  
and on his law he meditates day and night.  
 
He is like a tree  
planted by streams of water  
that yields its fruit in its season,  
and its leaf does not wither.  
In all that he does, he prospers.  
The wicked are not so,  
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.  
 
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,  
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 
for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,  
but the way of the wicked will perish.  
(Psalms 1:1-6 ESV) 

I have a new book of poems/prayers that I will be reading along with this read-through of Psalms.

THE HAPPY ONE 
 
The happy one steers clear of lawyers, 
Steps aside for party-goers, 
Sits apart from mouthy mockers, 
Loves to learn the Lord’s lore: 
He turns the Lord’s laws over night and day, 
A gardener tilling holy ground. 
And the happy one will blossom 
Like the fruit trees in a watered field 
Bearing plum peach walnut pear and apple 
Cupped by green leaves the long season, 
Harvest bushels crated by the orchard. 
 
Not the faithless. They are dead leaves, 
Clippings flattered by the wind, 
Who cannot judge themselves 
Much less the happy, and must stand 
Apart. Lord knows how 
The good make their way, 
But the bad go and come in darkness. 
(Words to God’s Music, Laurance Wieder) 

The following is from For All the Saints – Friday of the Week of Epiphany 2 

“Grant us, O God, so utterly to believe in thee and in thy good and unchangeable purpose, that believing we may by our lives bring back upon the earth, for its darkness, light; and for its sadness, that glory which need never have vanished. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.” 
(Opening Prayer) 

“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  
(Genesis 12:2-3 ESV) 

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.  
(Genesis 12:7-8 ESV) 

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. 
 
See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.  
 
Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.  
 
This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him,  
 
“You are a priest forever,  
after the order of Melchizedek.”  
(Hebrews 7:1-17 ESV) 

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”  
(John 4:16-26 ESV) 

Interestingly, today’s reading is the January 6 reading from My Utmost for His Highest. I’ve already read that, of course, but it is great to revisit it and see where Jesus takes me with it.

“Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself, it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others. 
 
“Bethel is the symbol of communion with God. Ai is the symbol of the world. Abraham pitched his tent between the two. The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him. Rush is wrong every time, there is always plenty of time to worship God. Quiet days with God may be a snare. We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three stages in spiritual life – worship, waiting and work. Some of us go in jumps like spiritual frogs, we jump from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together. They were always together in the life of Our Lord. He was unhasting and unresting. It is a discipline, we cannot get into it all at once.” 
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest) 

I really love the part about how all three of the “stages” should go together. I also like his analogy of “spiritual frogs.” One of the beautiful things about being involved in a liturgical church, now, is the actual amount of “waiting” that goes on. Like Chambers says, it is not a matter of worship and then waiting. We spend two of the most significant seasons of the church year waiting! In Advent, we wait. We wait for Christmas to arrive, but we also wait for the second coming of Christ. In Lent, we wait for Easter, and in that waiting, we seal away the “Alleluia” for 40 days. That is the most emotional part of the Ash Wednesday service for me. I cry every time the pastor says the words at the beginning of the service, when we seal away the word, “Alleluia,” and don’t say it again until Easter Sunday morning.

And we don’t stop working while we wait. So we are, indeed, worshiping, waiting, and working all at the same time.

I also really like how Chambers points out where Abraham pitched his tent. As a follower of Christ, I “pitch my tent” between communion with God and interaction with the world. As much as I would love to stay in God’s House, and commune only with Him, that is not possible. I have work to do. That work may be as simple as making someone feel loved, or it may be as complex as trying to explain something theological to someone. But I must stay connected with the world in order to be of service to both God and people.

I honestly feel as though I have a pretty good handle on that aspect of the Christian life, right now.

“Give us grace, O God, to listen to Thy call, to obey Thy voice and to follow Thy guiding. Thou leadest us to pleasures that never fade, to riches which no moth nor rust can corrupt or destroy. Unsearchable riches are in Thy hand: O give us grace to know Thy value of them and to covet them. Thou leadest us to fountains of living water: suffer us not to wander or turn aside till we attain unto the pleasures which are at Thy right hand forevermore. Establish, settle, strengthen us, that our goodness may not be like the early dew, which passeth away, but make us steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Grant this, we beseech Thee, for Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ’s sake.” 
(Closing Prayer, Ludovicus Vives) 

Father, I echo this prayer of Ludovicus Vives, this morning. Make me steadfast, immovable, always abounding as I work for You in this world. Keep my tent firmly pitched between sufficient communion with You and service to the world. Remind me that, no matter what the circumstances, there is always time (and opportunity) to worship You. I don’t have to be in a sanctuary, in a group of other believers, to worship You. It is necessary that that does happen, on a regular basis, but it is not the only place where worship happens. I worship You daily, in my own little room. I wait for You, daily, as well. And I hope that I do some manner of work for You, daily, as well.

Your pleasures will never fade, my Lord, and if it seems that they are, there is something amiss with me, not You. You have led me to fountains of living water; now let me drink deeply, daily, of this Living Water that is my Savior Jesus Christ, so that I will never thirst again. Please don’t ever let me go, my Lord. I am so very grateful for all that You have done.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Grace and peace, my brothers and sisters! Drink deep!

Because Jesus!! 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜