Daily Devotions - Tuesday, January 8

Perspective For 2008

“Watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”
--Deuteronomy 4: 9

The gift of family and children is a wonderful gift. What we do with the gift is important. With the season of gift giving and gift receiving fresh in our memories, let’s think today about what we are doing with this gift of family and children. Generally, when we receive gifts we keep them (well, maybe at this season we exchange them ). We appear to be a culture that hoards, storing away the gifts we receive. There is a tendency to do the same with the gift of family and children; a tendency to claim ownership, to keep for ourselves, to smother.

This gift of family and children can be (should be) viewed as a gift that we can nurture for the purpose of giving away. Today’s key verse suggests that we need to learn from our experiences and teach them to our families and children, thereby preparing them for their journey A good question in these opening days of 2008 might be: “How am I preparing the gift I’ve received to be a gift for the world?”

Walter Payton states in his autobiography Never Die Easy, “They (family/children) are the most precious thing that we have. …Find out what they’re doing, what their life is all about, what their problems are and what they feel is important to them.” By listening we can teach “our gifts” the value of being compassionate. Enjoy your day and have a good year nurturing the gifts you are preparing for the world.

A prayer for the year 2008:
God who has gifted me in many ways,
Empower me to listen to the gifts you have given me. Amen.

Ben Keckler
01.08.08