Just before Thanksgiving my work became “over the top” busy. I was creating lists like crazy, working all

hours and humming along like a machine. I was stressed! My family came to stay with me over the

holidays, and every bed in my house was filled, including the sofa. My heart was full! Then the new year

arrived – and the busy days continued.

Life is one big learning experience. Preparing a devotion is incredibly humbling. Humbling when the

words flow out of my heart in an effortless stream and devastating when the words don't come at all.

January was like that. No inspirational thoughts came. A new stress!

I prayed for the Lord to help me. I searched my heart to see what might be in the way of hearing God. I

asked for forgiveness. My practice is to spend time with God each morning, but I began to realize just

how little time I had spent with the Lord over the past few months while I was flurrying about.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to

God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29)

God doesn't want lip service. When I approach my quiet time in the morning, it takes time to shift the

focus off myself and onto my loving holy Father.



Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is

in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

I am a listener by trade but a talker by nature. I'm quite certain there are many times that the Lord

would prefer my silence. There are times that I miss the gift of His direction because I'm so busy talking

and praying. Not only that but He is a holy God worthy of my reverent approach to the throne. Listening

to the Lord is a habit I want to improve in 2024. I want to re-calibrate my focus onto Him – the One who

is able to help us navigate through the uncertainties of a new year.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful

songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep

of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and

praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through

all generations. (Psalm 100:1-5)

Amen!

By Kimberly Pope