“So… what are you doing next week?”  

“Hmmm, I don’t know.  It really depends on whether I have jury duty or not.”

To set the context, a few months ago, I had sensed a change in season and believed that God was leading me to a season to rest.  In obedience, I had made plans to take some time off work.  However, those plans were suddenly in disarray when I received an uninvited notification that I was selected to be part of compulsory jury duty for an 8 week court case.  To top things off, my jury duty was scheduled on exactly my last day of work!

I know God has a sense of humour, but as I started having the above re-occuring dialogue with multiple friends about my uncertain plans, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the passage in James 4:13-15.  

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I think most of us might agree that 2020 might not turned out the way we might have expected.  However for me, being called for jury duty pushed it to a whole other level for me.  I realised God was really trying to teach me a key lesson and graciously arresting my attention.  I still haven’t arrived there yet, but I’m slowly learning that it is futile to be stubbornly fixated on my plans and refusing to be open to the direction and journey that my loving and gracious Heavenly Father wants to take me on.     

As I spent time meditating on those verses, it highlighted this illusion.  I don’t know about you, but I think majority of the time, we think our lives are in our own hands.  It’s easy to forget sometimes that I am NOT in control of my life, but God is.  Perhaps through these last 6 months during COVID-19, you might have experienced how quickly things can change, and how we are ultimately not in fully control of our own schedule.   

Please don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that it is wrong to plan.  I believe we need to be wise stewards with the resources and talents that He’s given us, including time.  However, I wonder how different my day would be if I was less fixated on completing the plans I had set out for each day, and instead been more open on seeking God’s presence and will throughout the day.   

I love this quote by C.S Lewis –

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life — the life God is sending one day by day.” 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, 

Thank you for your loving care over us… and that you have us in your arms.  Sorry for the times we run our lives without acknowledging your Sovereignty, and we think that our ultimate destiny is controlled by us.  Help us realise that we depend on you for everything… and to have the attitude of humility in our daily lives.  Help us be aware of your presence in everything we do and may we discern with clarity the path you want us to take in our lives.   

Today, as we start our day, may you give us ears to hear and eyes to see and help us be sensitive to where you want to lead us.  And give us courage to be obedient to your promptings. 

Amen.  

A few months ago, I decided to try something new.

I had been reading a lot about people who practiced a proper day of Sabbath rest and was curious.  In both my roles as a lecturer at Bible college and as Chief of staff in a not-for-profit organisation, COVID-19 had brought about a huge increase in my overall workload.  I thought if I could experience a fraction of what these authors were sharing about how life giving they felt through practicing Sabbath rest, I’d be content.  

This morning, as you read this devotional, ready to begin yet another work day, you might be asking how all this is relevant?  If you’re completely content about your pace of life and your restful state as you go about your daily work, then read no further.  

However, if you’re feeling somewhat tired now even after a night of rest and feel like you’re stuck in a hurried, constant state of busyness, I invite you to join me on this Sabbath experiment.  

Firstly, why are we even talking about rest?  In Genesis 1:31 – 2:3 it says, 
“31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.  2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” 

It’s interesting to note that the very first “thing” that God calls holy is not indeed a thing, or a place (like the other religions), but instead it is time or a day. 

So back to my Sabbath experiment – here was what I did. 
Take a Sabbath, or in Hebrew the word Shabbat which means stop.  I chose to start on Saturday sundown till Sunday night and really rest.  To me that meant to stop, worship and delight in God.  For a whole 24 hours.  And when i stopped, I stopped thinking about work, doing work, planning for work.  I also decided that some of the things I was doing on my iPhone could have been defined as work, so I decided that my phone was going to rest with me too.

In the midst of this process, taking a Sabbath meant I had to clearly define what was “work” for me.  This meant thinking through and deciding which activities constituted rest and which ones were work.  Living as a single, by myself, away from my family, I soon learned after a few weeks that I would have to be selective about who I would choose to spend that day of rest with.   

What this experiment did was change the rhythm of my entire week, as it required careful planning to ensure I could rest properly for that seventh day.  Whilst I am still refining my weekly schedule, I’m increasingly realising the truth of Walter Brueggemann’s words “People who keep Sabbath live all seven days differently.”

Whilst I always knew that I wouldn’t have a problem feasting during the Sabbath, or as John Mark Comer termed “pleasure stacking” (where you experience good thing after good thing as you would when celebrating a birthday), the ever growing tougher revelations for me included the following: 

• I realised I didn’t know how to properly rest. 
• I realised my addiction to my phone. 
• I underestimated how much value, importance and significance I received via the sometimes relentless messages on social media and WhatsApp.
• I realised there was discipline required in not simply not doing work, but also not thinking about the never ending pile of to-dos that I had left incomplete at work.  

Perhaps the toughest thing I found was to sit in silence and solitude.  The silence seemed so deafening… as it was very confronting to deal with the thoughts that were swirling around in my mind.  Through this process, I have learnt more about myself as I gave myself space to journal and process my feelings and bring them to God. 

With my one day of rest each week, it’s caused me to learn how to slow my general pace of life for the rest of the week.  I’m beginning to realise the wisdom of Dallas Willard, as he called busyness the enemy of spiritual life and urged us to ruthlessly eliminate hurry.   As confronting as it was to admit, John Ortberg was right when he said that “Busyness isn’t just a disordered schedule, it’s a disordered heart”. 

Yet, in the world today, busyness is something that we almost take pride in.  We pack our schedules to the brim to make the most of every second of the day.  I wonder how much this busyness illustrates to others how important we are and how able we are to do everything?  

Perhaps as you consider joining me in this experiment, the real question is : What stops you from taking time out to rest? What are you afraid of? 

Prayer : 
God, thank you for creating the Sabbath and giving us the Sabbath.  Thank you that you designed a day of rest when you created this universe and called it holy.  Forgive us for the times we have played god and ran our lives thinking we can do it our way.  Please help us to slow down, to be present and to stop the busyness and hurry of life, so we can hear you clearly and delight in your presence.  In Jesus name, Amen. 

This month, I have been going through YWAM’s “Commission the City” course with a group of Christian work colleagues.  As part this weeks’ discussion, we have been sharing about the changes we would like to see in our communities and the plans we have to bring about a culture shift within our communities.   

One couple shared about how some friends had recently come into their lives after a long period of absence.  Together, the rest of the group reflected on how open to God and available this couple was.  This couple had space in their lives and were ready and available to embrace the opportunity to share God’s love to people who had unexpectedly reached out to them. 

As I pondered on this, it made me wonder about how some of us live with little to no margin in our daily lives.  How much space do we leave in our lives so we can fully grasp hold of any unexpected impromptu gospel opportunities that arise?  We seem to pride ourselves on our busyness, boasting on Instagram stories of what we did and ate in the last 24h.  

In Leviticus 19:9-10, the people of God were commanded to deliberately leave some of their harvest and not reap to the edges of their fields, to allow the poor and foreigners to glean.  But what does this have to do with our lives today?  Firstly, this concept speaks directly against idea of maximum efficiency and profitability in the modern world.  And whilst we have lost some of the significance of gleaning as we are no longer live in an agricultural society, I’ve been intrigued by this concept of gleaning and wondering about how, if at all, can this might be applied now.   

Perhaps it is the deliberateness of thinking and caring for the needy in their daily work that struck me.  Whilst this might not be an obvious correlation, I’m wondering what difference it would make if we deliberately allowed space and time in our daily lives for others around us who are needy? 

I wonder how many of you, like me have prayed and asked God for opportunities to display and tell off His love to others.  Yet when that opportunity arises, is my life so packed and full that I dismiss that opportunity as a mere inconvenience, being unable to grasp hold of that opportunity to display Christ’s love to the fullest extent? 

In the gospels, they are stories of how Jesus was “interrupted” in his daily routine as sick people reached out to him for  help.   But I never once read of a rushed Jesus who ignored their needs simply because he was too busy and focused at his task on hand.  

Today, as you go about your regular work day, I pray that God may open your eyes to see the myriad of opportunities there are to show and tell of Christ’s love to others around you.  May you allow time for these opportunities to arise and be willing to be inconvenienced as you spend time loving the people that God has surrounded you with right now in your life. 

i was recently invited to regularly write devotionals for a group of workers. whilst it was an honour to be asked to join this group of faithful, humble jesus lovers, there was a bit of healthy fear! truth be told, most of the writing i do has been mainly for an audience of one and at the back of my mind, i would often feel that it wouldn’t be “good enough” for others. in fact, that is why when i first started this blog, i didn’t tell anyone about it. i wanted to make sure i wrote for myself, not to please others. what i’ve found is that regular writing has helped me fight against my perfectionistic tendencies so i can bless others.

as such, i’m going to start sharing them on this blog too. please let me know if this has helped you 🙂
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Recently, I found myself needing some medical care urgently on the weekend.  Unfortunately, there were outside my regular doctor’s work hours, so I proceeded to call a service that provided a call out service. 

When that doctor arrived, I was shocked.  Not simply because he didn’t seem to have the expertise that I was expecting, but mainly because of his attitude during the appointment.  It seemed like the last thing he wanted to do was to help people. 

This whole experience left me confused and then it hit me. 

You see, my regular doctor whom I had seen for over 15 years was one full of compassion, kindness.. as well as being an expert and trusted in his field.  Thanks to his care over the years, I had come to associate the word doctor with one who can help in times of medical emergencies, who would provide trusted advice and care, and one who listens intently, who is compassionate, kind and positive, who always cheers me up and is able to crack a smile in me… even when I’m feeling sick. 

Through this one doctor’s work, he had shaped the way I viewed the whole medical profession.  The word doctor in my mind was synonymous with helpful, kind and caring. 

This made me think of all the other careers and people I meet in our daily work.  What characteristics and character do I associate with other professions?  What godly traits and characters do I exemplify in my daily work? 

Today, as you go about your daily work – be it a paid job or something you volunteer in, or whether you are a parent or student… how are you going about this work?  

As Dorothy Sayers once said, “No crooked table legs or ill-fitting drawers ever, came out of the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth.”  We are Christlike when we are excel in our chosen field of work .  However, there is also something to be said about how we do our work.  Call me an optimist, but I believe we can redefine and reshape the way that people look at our profession by how we go about our daily work.  

The attribute of kindness and caring doesn’t just have to be associated with the a nurse or doctor.  As you start your day today, I invite you to have a think about how you go about working? 

Perhaps you can be known to be a
Loving cook
Joyful waiter
Peaceful childcare worker
Patient friend
Kind lawyer
Good teacher
Faithful parent
Gentle real estate agent
Self controlled police officer

Let’s be intentional about the character we display at work, not just one of proficiency and excellence, but one that displays Christlikeness.   By the way we do our work, we can be light in a dark world.  

Don’t underestimate the impact that you can make in the world and how you can shape others view of your entire profession through the way you do your work. 

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, 
Thank you for allowing us to work with you in the transformation of this world.  As we go about our day today, please reveal to us specifically about how we can display your character in our workplace by how we work. May the way we work be attractive to those around us.  May we influence our workplace by the way we work – to both our fellow workmates and team members but also to our clients.  
Amen.