Seek the Lord while He may be found.

Today’s scripture comes from Hosea 10:12.

Sow righteousness for yourselves,

    reap the fruit of unfailing love,

and break up your unplowed ground;

    for it is time to seek the Lord,

until he comes

    and showers his righteousness on you.

Sometimes, I dread Sunday evening.

The fun of the weekend is over and it’s time to face the week.. My husband and I get the kids to bed and then the questions begin.

What do we need from the grocery store?

How many activities are on the calendar?

What is the homework schedule?

And my all time favorite: What in the world are we eating for dinner?

It’s a lot to process and to be honest it gets old. Sometimes we choose to avoid it all and curl up on the couch and watch tv. That avoidance has a high return of pleasure in the moment, but man oh man, is my Monday morning self so mad about the choices I made on Sunday evening.

The panic of not knowing what to pack in a lunch. The rushing around trying to help everyone locate their things, from school work to a clean pair of socks, the list is never ending. This Monday morning version of things means I am frazzled and frustrated; it is certainly not the best way to start the week. 

I am sure this scenario sounds familiar to many of us. We have all chosen comfort in the moment and suffered later. In essence, we reap what we sow, right? 

Thankfully, the scenario above is not the way I usually do things. Most of the time, I make my Monday morning self proud. I make a menu for the week, grocery shop and meal prep. I ask the family to think about what needs to be done to best prepare for the week ahead. It means less chaos, less grumbling and an overall more positive home life. It also means I get to work on time and I don’t spend too much money on take out. Again, I reap what I sow, but this time the outcome is so much better. 

On a grander, more spiritual scale, Hosea reminds us of the value in preparation. When we sow righteousness, we reap love, and this allows us to seek the Lord. It sounds simple, but I know it isn’t easy.

In our spiritual walk, we often encounter tasks that we would rather avoid. Much like that version of me that is wrapped in a blanket, zoning out on Netflix, we sometimes don’t feel up to completing our spiritual “Sunday evening chores.” This makes it harder to figure out what the Lord is wanting for us. Our ability to seek is hindered.

My prayer today is that these words from scripture will remind all of us that committing ourselves to our daily spiritual grind, while sometimes exhausting, prepares us to seek the Lord.

This devotion was written and read by Edha Meadows-Brown.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

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First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.