Devotion

This year of personal devotional reading has been a solitary practice. You have spent time alone with God, reading, reflecting, praying. This is sacred and necessary. But Hebrews reminds us that the spiritual life is also communal. You are meant to encourage others and be encouraged. You are meant to spur one another toward love and good deeds. As this year ends, consider: How might you share what you have learned? How might you invite others into the practices you have discovered? How might you become part of a faith community or deepen the faith community you are already in? Spiritual growth deepens when shared. When you tell someone else what you have learned, you understand it more deeply. When you encourage someone else toward spiritual practice, you strengthen your own practice. When you participate in community that is oriented toward God, toward love, toward transformation, you are held and strengthened in ways solitary practice cannot provide. This does not mean giving up solitary devotion. It means adding to it. It means becoming someone who shares faith with others. Someone who invites others to pray. Someone who witnesses to what God has done in your life. Someone who encourages others to grow spiritually. As you move forward, bring others with you on this journey. The spiritual path is traveled alone, but it is also traveled together. Both are necessary. Both are powerful.