FEATHER: Almighty God, we the children of your creation bless you for this new day and the time needed to do all that we are called to do. We thank you for the blessings and the challenges which move us from the old to the new. Forgive us when we embrace only our ideals and desires, especially when we lose our direction by seeing only the distractions of this world. Grant us courage to accept change and the uncomforting of uncertainty. Open our eyes and hearts to your vision of new life and possibilities. Humble us that we might always walk with your peace in our hearts. Grant us your Spirit to seek this day to be better than we were yesterday, bless us that we might be a blessing to the other before and beside us. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
SAGE: To be called a child of God is no simple and small thing. It is a blessing and challenge, a blessing of God, whose love, design and purpose are revealed through us. As children of God’s creation we are called to seek more, not weighed down by our past but serving and living in the present, and striving to evolve and grow to be better in the future—a betterment that can happen only in and through Christ. Read 1 John 3:1.
As I sit here at my desk, I write noting the blessings and challenges that the summer of 2025 has given. Our home garden blessed us with a glorious crop of fruits and vegetables; the backyard was our quiet haven of respite and refreshment. Prayers were uplifted more in this summer, as our thoughts and hearts went to all affected by wildfires, tornadoes, floods and conflict. The world has gotten more confusing and embattled; nothing is as it was or will be again, and I wish I could say that I’m okay with that. But reality wakes me from my slumber like the lightning storms, which seem more severe, as Mother Nature screams at us to pay attention and look at what we are doing to our children’s and grandchildren’s world. Yet we, ourselves like playing children, see only the interesting things before us; we see not the other children suffering, homeless and hungry, we see not the pain of our racism, the struggle and suffering we cause by our own selfishness and ideals.
Children of God the Almighty we are; we act and live as we do, and by grace and mercy God still loves and forgives us. Glory be to God!! To be called a child of God is no simple and small thing—it is our blessing and challenge.
