“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2
Six weeks. That is to long to go without sharing part of my journey. I confess this morning that I have allowed the business of getting ready for the shelter season to overtake my daily and weekly routine. I have allowed the business to take over my Friday morning and keep me from my reflections.
I chose this particular picture this morning because it is a camp left unattended by it’s homeless resident. It speaks to me about solitude, but also loneliness. It speaks to me of a hidden life in which nobody recognizes the real me.
Much of my summer has been spent visiting with our guests. Finding them in the places where they live. I have been learning about the rules for life on the streets and what happens when you don’t follow the rules. It has been a very humbling experience.
In so many conversations I have heard our friends talk about God’s faithfulness, God’s provision in life, God’s protection over them. I have been blessed and humbled to understand more of how this unseen community lives together and yet separate.
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
Paul wrote to the Colossians to encourage them in their new life in Christ. He gave them some instruction about households, relationships and most importantly, their new and intimate relationship with the victorious Christ.
As he concludes his letter, Paul gives this final instruction. Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. We will spend some time thinking through the many implications of this instruction over the next weeks.
For today, I encourage each of us to take this thought captive: Keep our spiritual eyes open for what God is doing today. As we pray, give God thanksgiving for all you were able to see in this day that is proof of the movement of God’s hand.
This is a lesson I have been learning over the summer from our friends living on the streets. Many of them spend their day praying without ceasing and giving thanks to God for His faithful provision and care.
May it be so for us as well.