March 2 Devotion

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.”
--Jesus

Very seldom in my life has all of my mind and body been completely focused for a long time on one thing. Generally, my day is filled with reading and study, answering mail, checking e-mail, talking on the telephone, visiting people in homes and hospitals, taking care of things at home, and a multitude of other tasks. However, there are a few days in my life that stand out as being focused on only one thing.

Twenty-five years ago today was such a day. It began with the question, “Are you having labor pains?”, continued through talking with Sharon (our almost three year old) about what was happening, leaving her at home with my mother to care for her, a doctor’s appointment, hours of labor, and the birth of our daughter Rachel at seven minutes before midnight, and ended with Vicky and me in the birthing room holding our new daughter and admiring the perfection of God’s newest creation.

It was a day focused entirely on one thing…the arrival of our new baby. And it was a blessed day, a very blessed day.

Is it possible that what Jesus is telling us in the quote above is that even in the midst of doing all kinds of things in life, even when activities seem to pull us in all directions, we are still called to be loving God with all our heart, soul and mind. That singleminded, singlehearted devotion to God can make every day a blessed day, and can unify each day when the activities of earth try to pull us apart.

During Lent, perhaps we can learn how to live with a singleminded, singlehearted devotion to God, for that is the first and greatest commandment. Amen.

Joe Shreve