At 6:39 p.m., during a small party with friends, I got this text:
“Hi, Becca. My list shows you as my writer for tonight’s devo. Is that still the case?”
D’oh!! Generally, these devotionals are due at noon the day before they are published. Not only am I one of the devotional writers, I coordinate the devotional writers every week. I even find myself slightly irritated when I have to remind someone that their devotional is due. Just yesterday morning, I even complained to one of the co-pastors about how difficult it sometimes is to get people to remember their devotional deadlines. Yet, here I am, frantically belting out a devotional that was due 10 hours ago!
Distracted much?
Here’s the thing… I had good reason. It was my birthday. There was a solar eclipse, and I’m pretty sure it happened because it was my birthday. I had to respond to all of the sweet people on Facebook wishing me happy birthday. There were 88 of them. I counted. Also, it was the first day back to school for my kids. I had to get some work done. We had dinner guests of friends and family. There were many things to do, many things to think about.
How could this have happened? The Lord and Creator of all the universe has, through the trust of others, given someone like me the task of writing to you about him. The Author of everything and the standard of good has honored me — one unworthy of his grace — with the gift of promoting him with this method of serving him. And I forgot!
That text at 6:39 p.m. was a reset for me. It was the Lord’s hand on my face, turning it gently back toward him.
Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile…”
— Mark 6:31 NLT
Sometimes the Lord reminds us quietly that we have forgotten him and gently guides us back toward the gift of honoring him, for he never forgets us.
You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
— Psalm 27:8
My prayer, Lord, is that we may never forget you in our constant distractions, that we may run with endurance this race that you have set before us, that we will impress these words of yours on our hearts and on our souls. In your son’s name, amen.