User Log On
Rossford UMC
To Know Christ and to Make Christ Known
Gallery

  • EVERYONE IS WELCOME HERE! 

    10:30 am Worship

  •  

    Friday, August 8, 2025

    Psalm 91: 1-2

    1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
    abides under the shadow of the Almighty.
    2 He shall say to the Lord, "You are my refuge and my stronghold,
    my God in whom I put my trust."

     

    Strangely, the coming of old age has made me realize how much blessing I received in the most ordinary ways. The blessing of mowing a lawn. The blessing of working in a woodshop. The blessing of a career which demanded the best of me. Ordinary things. Sunsets and sunrises. Snowy winter mornings. An afternoon along a riverbank, fishing. Even the most mundane tasks. Washing dishes. Preparing a meal.

    “If you are the work of God,” Irenaeus wrote, “wait patiently for the hand of your artist who makes all things at an opportune time… Give Him a pure and supple heart and watch over the form which the artist shapes in you.” (Adversus haereses, 4.39, quoted in A Year with Thomas Merton, 228.)

    I read in a novel yesterday about a British general, in charge of a major command in Burma during World War II. He hated what the war was making of him, yet a wise spiritual leader from India told him to relax and just be the best warrior he could be. That, the acharya said, was the destiny his God had decreed for him. Is this so different from a taxi driver being the best taxi driver he can to honor God? How seldom I thought of these things as I traveled through life. God had blessed me with a wondrous wife, with wondrous children, and, while I tried to be a good husband and father, I seldom thought of God’s blessing for me. I did the things I did simply because they were expected of me.

    Recognizing God’s role in things makes everything brighter. A sunrise is more beautiful. A wild animal slipping quietly through the woods more wondrous. An ordinary task somehow more meaningful. God alone has the power to make every single thing, every single moment holy.

    I have tried at times to speak to others about the importance of my times of prayer. Even 10 minutes spent with God, not making requests, not pouring out my problems, not thinking of rewards and punishments – time simply spent looking at God, speechlessly – has the power to make an entire day better. Who among us does not want to be loved? Who wouldn’t want to be with the one who loved him? Think of the power and blessing which rises out of love.

    Help me, O God, to see your presence in every ordinary moment this day.

     

    Hymn of the day: One More Step Along the World I Go. Online at Rossford UMC - Media.

     

     

    Rev. Lawrence Keeler