Devotion

As this year of devotions completes, pause and recognize: You have been given a gift. 365 days. 365 opportunities to read, to reflect, to pray. 365 invitations to encounter God's word and your own heart. Not everyone gets this gift. Not everyone has the privilege or the ability to engage in this practice. You did. You have. This is grace. This is something to be grateful for. The disciplines you have learned this year—gratitude, forgiveness, presence, love, trust—are gifts. The insights you have gained about yourself and about God are gifts. The spiritual growth that has occurred—some of which you are aware of and much of which you cannot yet see—is a gift. The people who have supported your spiritual journey, the circumstances that have allowed you time to read and reflect, the community or solitude that has nourished you—all of this is gift. Gratitude is the appropriate response. Not gratitude that denies struggle or difficulty, but gratitude that holds the whole year and recognizes that even in challenge, you have been met with grace. Paul invites us to give thanks in all circumstances. Not for all circumstances, but in all of them. Even when things are hard, gratitude is possible because God is present. Even when you are struggling, gratitude is appropriate because you are learning, growing, being transformed. This final day of the year is an invitation to comprehensive gratitude: Thank you for this year. Thank you for the gift of life, of time, of spiritual practice. Thank you for how I have grown. Thank you for how I have been loved. Thank you for God's presence. Thank you for this gift.