“Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”(Psalm 86:11 NIV)
Don’t get so busy today that you overlook your lessons for the day. Will you have any lessons today? Of course you will and that does not include this meditation. Wherever you find yourself today, you will benefit from some lessons. The lessons may range from a toddler, after seeing you start to eat a long-awaited meal without praying, by saying, “We need to pray first,” all the way to some erudite, Biblical scholar explaining the word to you, or even the Holy Spirit bringing something to your remembrance to help you avoid taking a step that will reinforce the principle of reaping and sowing. You will have some lessons today and, yes, they will benefit you.
Here is my transparent case in point. Sunday, I could not go to church physically because of the state-imposed mandates on quarantining when you have had contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. If you don’t know me that well, let me share with you that I don’t miss church! In the last 31 years I have only missed church due to graduations in distant states, family weddings that dictated that I could not drive back late on a Saturday night, and my, once in a lifetime stay in the hospital ten years ago. Thank God for technology! Sunday, I got to attend virtually! Yes, I missed being present, but I did not totally miss the assembly of the saints. On top of that, I got some lessons as I sat on the plump couch as opposed to the pulpit chair. Can I share them with you?
Of course I learned the main theme preached by the messenger sent by the Lord and I realized how things will be better in my life, regardless of what I have to endure, “when God is in the picture.” Yet, there were a couple of other lessons that benefitted me. As I listened to the preacher, I heard how well he projected his voice and ensured the microphone was positioned properly. From observing from afar, one of my additional lessons was to focus on improving projection with my soft voice and to not only control the microphone instead of waving it back and forth and from hand to hand, but also to choose the mic that picked up my voice from any angle. When you pay attention and listen with integrity and an absence of critiquing, you will get the lessons. (I think I just gave a lesson! Smile!)
Oh there were a couple of other lessons. As I watched the service with Sis. King, I noticed she was just as active and into the service as if she was sitting on “her pew” in the sanctuary. She expressed her verbal assent, stood up, jumped up and down, and waved her hand in the air! Here are a quadruplet of lessons from her joining in the worship virtually: (1) You can have church wherever you are at anytime of the day! (2) You can praise God outside the sanctuary! (3) As a matter of fact, we ought to stop and praise Him right now! (4) Worship is for real and not a show for the rest of those in the assembly of the saints.
I also had lessons in regard to keep from overlooking blessings and effective leadership. As I looked at our place of worship from a physical perspective, I realized how blessed we were to be in the edifice where we gather together to be edified, encouraged, enlightened, and educated! The church building looked beautiful! What a lesson in appreciating how the Lord has blessed us; a lesson often overlooked! Sometimes we are so busy with the “stuff” that we don’t see our blessings. As it relates to leadership, the measurement of leadership barometer that I used to share with students in organizational leadership classes at the collegiate level, stood out in a magnificent way. The measurement barometer is explained as follows: Effective leadership is not how well followers or those under your charge function or perform in your presence, but rather how well they function in your absence. The lesson was apparent as I watched the service, observed how everyone carried one in my absence. It was a lesson reinforcing my words and it caused me to raise my lips in the form of a great big smile! I was well pleased!
Enough focus on my lessons, lets turn the camera on you. What lessons did you receive Sunday, Monday, or yesterday? I’m sure you hand some lessons, regardless of where you were. And what lessons does the Lord have for you today to encourage you, embolden you, and cause you to endure any obstacles and keep pressing forward, down the narrow path of righteousness. Today, look for your lessons in the classroom of life. Review them at the end of the day. Even His creation will give you a lesson or two! But for now, a brief lesson as I close. Thank God for yet another day! Have a good one my friend! Be blessed!
“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?” (Job 2 7-10 NKJV)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King