by Victoria Heinecke

Focus on what truly matters.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
    that her sin has been paid for…“
Isaiah 40:1-2a New International Version

My husband and I attended a marriage retreat last February. One of the things we learned was to share three good things that happened to each of us that day. With our divergent work schedules at that time, the practice felt a bit awkward at first. We sometimes struggled to find three things in the midst of routine.

Fast forward eight months. We’ve been sharing the same space since mid-March when Jon started working from home and retiring over the summer. We had plans for this summer; choral rehearsals and performances, vacations, baseball games, visiting our daughter in Ohio, and spending more time with friends old and new. With the pandemic quashing our dreams, one might think that we would have more about which to complain.

The practice has helped us find the positive throughout the pandemic. It’s not always easy; depression can cloud our perspective and make it a challenge to find something good about the day. I’ve sometimes been reduced to repeating “I woke up and I’m not sick” as two of my three good things.

The good things of this world are temporal and fleeting. God’s promises are countless and eternal.

As we begin the new year, let us remember the one good thing that matters: God promised us deliverance from our sinful lives. He sent us his Son, the baby in the manger, to redeem us back to himself. He then sent the Holy Spirit to be our guide and comforter, to give us the assurance that no matter what this world throws at us, every day brings something for which to be thankful.

Comfort. Tender words. Pardon for our sins.

Three good things. One good God.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado