A Blank Square (01/30/2025)

This morning, I went to my kitchen, turned on the coffee pot, and walked to my fridge calendar. There was a blank square on January 30 – no appointments, no reminders, no expectations! Can I make use of nothing?

Seriously, I had to ponder that. I’m so used to having large chunks of my time designated for specific purposes, I truly stood wondering what I could do with this block of time – a whole day – with no one expecting me, with no place to go, with some of that precious time I’d wished for and prayed for on the hectic days that preceded it. And as I sat with my coffee and greeted my LORD and the day, my first item was help in using this unstructured gift of time today.

Our lives are very full in the modern world. I must admit I wonder why. With all the modern conveniences, you’d think we’d have more time than our ancestors. And yet I notice as I speak with others, time is something most everyone says they don’t have enough of these days. Is it that we have less time or is it that we are using it less wisely?

As I read the readings for today, one of my favorites appeared – Hebrews 10:24 – “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.” Ah, I thought, how do you do it, LORD? Just as I was wondering what to make of a full day of free time, the LORD gave me an assignment. The LORD is like that, don’t you know.

So, my plans for today include a card to the neighbors who are going through difficult times because of illness, a call to a woman I know is struggling with loneliness, a check-in on a someone struggling with depression, baking and distributing banana bread to various households and chatting, planning the next confirmation class with the students in hopes of opening for them the possibilities in a life graced with the Spirit, extra time in prayer because I need it, and a good dinner for my husband and I.

The passage from Hebrews is a powerful one for us all to contemplate and to consider. How do we “rouse one another to love and good works”? What use can we make of our time, of our travels, of our tasks if done in, with and through the LORD? Who can we reach out to in love? Who is Christ sending us to?

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.