Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:4-6)

Greetings Everyone and peace be with you. I am new to this 'Running in Faith' writing thing, so please bear with me. I offer these thoughts to you.

The three verses above hold a theme we hear repeatedly throughout the Bible. Give thanks whatever happens (Thessalonians); This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24). Even Luther instructs us in his small catechism after morning devotion we are to go to work joyfully. Oh these words sound so lovely, and we can possibly recite them by heart.

But pause for a moment with me...

I will speak only for myself, but if I say these words and really let them sink into my soul, I am struck with a seemingly impossible and overwhelming instruction. Rejoice always. How do you do that?

I am so ill-equipped to accomplish this on my own. However, my focus these days, and every day, is to take small steps and not beat myself up too much if I stray from the path. When I can't seem to be thankful for a particular circumstance, I try (and the operative word is 'try') to stop and think of one of my many blessings and thank God for it. It's so very hard to do on most days when I get sucked into the franticness and chaos of everyday living. But I pray that I get better at it each day. I ask the Holy Spirit to help me develop this spiritual muscle.

Oh loving and caring God, I pray for all of us. Lord, help us to rejoice in all circumstances and to feel your loving presence every minute of every day for you really are here with us and all we have to do is reach out. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen

Contributed by Laurie
Monday February 1, 2016
Liturgical Year C: Week 10
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading: cEpiphany4
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany