Sunday, December 7, 2003
Philippians 3:9-11

You should have heard my wife when she heard I was going to try to write a week's devotions. Well, laughter is good medicine. She suggested that the call should come to me if there's a foundation to be fixed, a church to be built, or perhaps a wrong-doer in need of smiting. (I'm a good smiter.) But she'd never call me to lead devotions.

She's right. I'm not a "devotions person." My daily prayer is like this:

"Dear God: Whaddaya need done today? ...OK. ...You betcha. ...I'm on it. ...Lemme know if there's anything else. ...Bye"

Affirmations? I have a few:

"Whole lotta chores to do before sundown."
"Less talk, more work."
"Always working, never shirking."
"Get out of my way and let me get to work."

A neighbor who grew up in the days when horses pulled the plow told me that his family had devotions at noon. What we called dinner time. Anyway, his Dad always ended those devotions with a prayer, and the prayer always ended with a phrase that came to sound like a single word: "Amen, boys hitch up." And when the word was spoken, the family flew out the door to continue the day's work.

Prayer is hard for us doers. It goes on too long, and we get impatient. Once we know what the job is and how we're going to do it, we want to grab the hoe and start killing weeds. That's affirmation #2: "Less talk, more work."

Now, I've been paying attention part of the time in church. If the sermon's a snore or the prayers go on too long, I steal that time back to think about how to do the next job. But I do listen intently every now and then. So I've heard God's more spiritual people say things that help me understand something of their lives. I gather that their souls would starve on the quantities of meditation that sustain me. I don't want anyone starving, so I've done my best here to provide more spiritual food than I usually consume. Just be ready. It may not feel very spiritual.

"And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God." Philippians 3:9-11

Amen. Boys, hitch up.

Mark Bromley

All contents copyright 2003 by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action. Permission is granted to United Methodist congregations, individuals and groups to reproduce and distribute this devotional without charge. All other use requires the advance permission of the editor.