Advent Devotions

Today’s author is Prince of Peace member Milt Warkentien.

Julene used this statement by Dolly Parton in the prayers email on September 3rd and it got me thinking about the theme for this past Sunday, “God’s work. Our hands.”

“I don’t practice [faith] – I live it. I think people try too hard. I talk to God like He is my best friend. I just go around talking to Him sometimes. You live by example. You teach by example. You learn by example, don’t you think? I think if somebody saw me in my house, they would think I was an absolute lunatic. I just talk to God, and sometimes if something great has happened, I just kind of raise my hand and give God a high-five or a thumbs up.” –Dolly Parton, interview 2019.

Dolly wasn’t perfect, but she cared about people. How many children benefited from her reading program? How many others benefited from other charitable works she did? What could the world be like if we all learned to just live faith like Dolly did? How many of us get caught up in all the “legalities” of being a Christian that we forget John 13: 34-35 where Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”?

“Love one another.” Such a simple sounding phrase. How hard can it be to live with love? How hard can it be to teach others to live with love? How hard can it be to learn from those who live with love? 

Simple sounding maybe, but simple to carry out not so much. For me “God’s work. Our hands.” is to start living with love. Jesus cared about everyone, not a certain gender, class, or race. We are called to do the same. I think that if we strive to do God’s work with our hands, we need to do things as Mother Teresa stated so well: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

With all the darkness in the world it can be easy to be overwhelmed and feel helpless to do anything. It might be true that we won’t have the same effect Dolly did, but we can still strive to make the world a better place. Small things can add up to bigger things, which then can lead to even bigger things. Dolly didn’t start out planning to help the whole world; with her reading program, she was hoping to help the children in her community. Look what that act of love for others ended up doing. She did a small thing with great love, and it ended up being a great thing. 

Our youth and their chaperones did a trip to North Carolina this summer. They went to do God’s work with their hands. How will the lives that they touched turn out we don’t know, but maybe the small things that they did that week will turn into greater things. Prince of Peace is involved with many charitable groups doing God’s Work with our hands, time and money. Many of these things may seem insignificant, but one never knows how small acts of love will turn out. 

Dear God, help us all strive to live our lives with love. May all of our small acts of love help make our homes, church, community and world a better place. Help us walk with Jesus knowing he is our friend and mentor. Someday, maybe we’ll even be “lunatic” enough to give Jesus a fist bump, or something, when we’ve seen ourselves and others living with love. Amen

Today I once again leave you with the Covid recording of “Live With Love.”