On Auto Pilot

Devotion for the Week...

A few years ago, Paul heard someone on the radio talking about how God wants a real conversation with us, not rote repetition. The background for the person talking was the voice of a child saying, "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food." That common grace is exactly the one we use most often and I do find it is really easy to close my eyes and say those words silently before eating, without really paying attention to what I'm saying. Saying thank you to God for our food is a wonderful habit to have...if we are consciously thanking Him. If we're just saying, or thinking, the words without paying attention to them, then it seems to me like it's just a waste of time. Grace can easily become something we do on auto pilot, rather than something meaningful.

Of course, saying grace isn't the only Christian activity that can be done on auto pilot more than out of a desire for a connection with God. Do we go to church because we really want to spend that time with Him and with other believers or do we go just because that's what we do on Sundays? Do we put money in the offering plate because we want to support the work of the church or because the plate is passed around and we feel we're expected to put something in?

Predicting what the last days will be like, Paul wrote about people "having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). That has always been the verse that comes to mind for me when I think of any religious activity done on auto pilot. Saying grace mindlessly certainly has the form of godliness, but there's no power to it. There's no power in allowing words to flow through your lips if you don't really mean them. And you can't really mean them if you're not paying attention to them.

Here's the thing - doing religious things mindlessly looks an awful lot like doing them consciously. You can't tell by looking at me if I'm saying grace mindlessly or not. I wouldn't be able to tell by watching you come into church if you're doing it out of habit or out of a desire for connection to God and other believers. Only I can know if my faith is on auto pilot or not.

Well, not quite. God knows, too. Psalm 139:1-4 says "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely." Not only does He know what we say or think, but He also knows the intention behind it. He knows when we're focused on Him and when we're just going through the motions.

Quilt background is my Scraps Squared quilt

We must ask ourselves, then, is our faith on auto pilot? Are we just going through the motions, content to have the appearance of a connection with God? Or are we consciously focused on strengthening our relationship with Him? Do we want to form of godliness or do we want the power that comes from God?

TGIFF - A Little Finish

Welcome to Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday! I can't believe it's September already! I feel like I'm always saying I can't believe how quickly time is flying by, but it's always true. A particular day can sometimes feel like it lasts 6 weeks (you've had those days, too, right?), but then somehow 6 months disappear in a flash.

I'm in the midst of a bunch of secret sewing right now, so I have just a quick, little finish to share today. I whipped up a double sided 4 patch pincushion, made with scrap 2 ½" squares. The 4 year old I babysit arrived today in a shirt that coordinated perfectly with the pincushion, so I couldn't resist using him as my model. Thanks to his mom for giving me permission to share 😊

I stuffed it with scrap batting pieces, too. I've been trying to find ways to use the long, skinny pieces that I cut off the edges of a quilt after quilting it. I hate throwing them out, especially since I want to reduce how much garbage we throw out as a household. I didn't want to be piecing a bazillion of them together to make a decent sized piece either, though. I mean, some of these pieces are about 2" wide, so making a batting big enough for even a mini quilt would take a lot of time.

I wasn't sure about using them for stuffing things because I figured that would make the stuffed thing turn out lumpy, but then I decided to try cutting the batting into small pieces first and that worked perfectly. I started out just cutting the batting in a single layer, but quickly switched to cutting four layers at a time to speed things up. I probably could have cut even more at a time with these LDH scissors. Since it's only a 4" pincushion, cutting enough batting into bits didn't take long.

I have a tendency to under-stuff things and then wish they were fuller, so I made a point of stuffing the pincushion really tightly, which gives it a nice heft and used up more batting than I thought it would. Sure, I'd have to make dozens of pincushions to use all the batting scraps I have tucked away, but at least it's a start!

I ladder stitched the opening closed last night, which was the extent of my sewing for the entire day. It's our first week back to work and I'm finding the morning alarm rather jarring after a whole summer without it. I'm hoping to be more productive in the evenings again after I adjust to actually having a schedule again.

I don't actually need a new pincushion for use while sewing, but I made this one to use as a sample. I'm planning a "Learn to Quilt" class that I want to offer and I thought it would be nice to start with a super simple, but also useful, project the first night. My thought right now is that I'd allow the class participants to choose from my 2 ½" squares (it's not like I have a shortage), so there would be no cutting involved that first night. They'd learn to wind a bobbin, thread their machines and then get to make something they can then use for the rest of the class. There's nothing like seeing a finished project to make you feel like you can actually do this new thing. Oh, and I'll spend some time beforehand cutting up lots of batting scraps so they can use them for their stuffing 😊

Turns out, though, that I really like this little scrappy pincushion, so it's entirely likely it will end up seeing regular use. I may want to make more, too, lol. How many pincushions do you use regularly?

Want to remember this for when you need a quick project? Pin it for later!

And now on to the party! Link up your finishes for the week (big or small) and be sure to visit a few other links to congratulate them on their finishes, too 😊

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Work Attitude

Devotion for the Week...

I enjoyed the mental break from writing devotions over the summer, but I'm happy to be back with a new one today! I hope that, whatever your work, you were able to find ways to take a break, too.

On that note, I want to look at work today. This is the Labour Day long weekend for those of us in North America. It's a holiday that began as a way to celebrate the work of everyday people and their contribution to society and that has become the unofficial signal of the end of summer for most people.

We, as a society, have a rather complicated relationship with work. Work is necessary - collectively, everyone's work needs to be done to keep society running and, individually, we each need to work in order to have an income to support ourselves - but we place a much higher value on the time we spend not working. I'm sure you've heard the phrase "working for a living is getting in the way of living." I know I'm guilty of feeling exactly that, especially now when I'm about to start work again after a summer off. I've even said longingly that I will make a very good retired person when the time comes because I can guarantee I will never be bored.

In the Bible, Paul is very clear that Christians are to be working. You don't get much clearer than "Those unwilling to work will not get to eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). This verse is written as part of a larger argument against idleness as Paul reminded the Thessalonians that he worked hard so he wouldn't be a burden on anyone while he was with them. In that context I believe that Paul is not only referring to paid labour,  but also to all the unpaid work that needs to be done, which is why we've quoted that verse to our boys when they were younger and balking at the thought of doing their chores. Likewise, parenting is a lot of valuable work for which we are never paid.

Addressing slaves, Paul also wrote, "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people" (Colossians 3:23). This one can be tough to live, can't it? We probably all have parts of our work that we genuinely enjoy and find easy to do. As a child care provider, I find it easy to sit and read funny books with the kids or bake with them or listen to their sometimes quirky stories and explanations. The ones that are so good I have to immediately text it to their mother make my day. But there are also parts of our work that we really don't like. Dealing with tantrums comes to mind. Or dirty diapers. During the summers while in university, I worked at Tim Horton's (a coffee shop chain here in Canada) and there were certain customers I'd cringe to see arriving because they were so unpleasant and rude. And needing to clean bathrooms never makes me happy.

Those parts of the work inspire anything but a desire to work willingly, and yet that's exactly what Paul tells us to do. Whatever we do, even the parts we really don't like, we should work at them willingly. Not complaining or grumbling, not doing just the bare minimum to get by and not trying to find ways to make it someone else's job. Why? Put simply, because it really is God we are working for, not the people who pay us or who benefit from the unpaid work we do. "Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ" (Colossians 3:24).

It's not that He needs the work done, but rather that He wants the right attitude in our hearts. So much of living the life God wants for us is more about our hearts than it is about anything on the outside. I know I grumble in my head an awful lot about the work I don't want to be doing. Sometimes I even allow it to make me miserable, all the while knowing that's the wrong attitude.

Quilt detail from my Blue Sparkler quilt

Is your attitude about work godly? Is it easy for you to work willingly, even at the parts of your work that you don't enjoy? I have a long way to go before I'll be able to hold the right attitude about work in my heart all the time. Hopefully I also have many years of work ahead of me to work on it.