Day #2560

January 3, 2021 

Years ago, not long before I began seminary, I was prescribed a medication with a strange side-effect - I lost words. I would try to say something like, the sky is really ____ today, and the word "blue" would simply not come to me. It was extremely frustrating, but I was fortunate that when I stopped taking the medication, the words came back. Most of the time. My internship supervisor had an answer for me when I would still struggle. His idea was to tell my brain (literally say it out loud) to find whatever I was trying to remember and then move on. It often worked, sometimes much later, but I still find myself using that method now.

With all of that said, today’s “think” portion by Patrick Kangrga in the devotion d365 spoke to me and I wanted to share it with you:

Have you ever found that you were looking for a word? In the middle of talking, the word you were going to say disappears. You cannot remember the word. You start mentally searching for it. The harder you try to remember, the more it feels like you are wandering around in a dark room. You are bumping into things, stumbling over this or that. Maybe it comes to you a few seconds later. Maybe hours later, as you are doing something else, it pops into your head. Like someone flipped a switch, the light bulb in your mind comes on, showing you that the word was right there all along. God is always there. Sometimes we forget that and stumble in the darkness. But we just need a little light to help us remember.

God’s Light (Jesus Christ) is always the light we need to help us, guide us, lead us, comfort us, and give us hope. Thanks and praise! Or as Patrick Kangrga wrote in "pray" today:

God, help me when I forget you are present. Help me when I am stumbling in the dark. Help me to be aware of the Christmas light shining around me and within me. Amen. 

Blessings. And prayers.