Advent Devotional #2: Peace
“Do I do good with all my might?”
by Rev. Monica Beacham from Almost Christmas: Devotions for the Season
Preparing for Christmas can seem like it’s all about quantity - do we have enough gifts for everyone on our list? Do we have enough food for our family’s big meal, and that classroom party, and the cookie exchange? Do we have enough time to fit everything in? And enough money to pay for it all? I remember at the first church I served, whenever we had a potluck meal - or, as we call them in the South, “covered-dish dinners” - the kitchen crew was always worried before we served. Will we have enough food? (Spoiler alert: we always had more that enough!) We feel this in all areas of our lives. In our work: are we doing enough, earning enough? With our families: are we spending enough quality time? In school: did I study enough? Or in general: do I take good enough care of myself?
John Wesley’s question, at first, can seem like another one to add to this list: do I do enough good in the world? That’s a scary question. How much will ever really be enough, and enough for whom - for yourself? For the world? For God? For one thing, we could exhaust ourselves doing good, and we know it still wouldn’t be enough for a world full of hurts and needs. For another thing, we know that God is not sitting somewhere with a legal pad, keeping a tally of our good deeds, waiting for us to get to some certain number. I just know God has bigger fish to fry.
But what if, instead of being about quantity, this questions was about quality? Wesley’s question recalls a verse from Ecclesiastes: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,” (9:10 NIV). It doesn’t mean “try to do everything you possibly can.” It means “whatever you choose to do, whatever you are called to do, do it will all your might.” Do it with all your power, all your strength. Put your whole self into it. A wise older gentleman once told me, “If a task is first begun, never leave it till it’s done. Be ye great or be ye small, do it well or not at all.”
These days we have so many things competing for our time, our money, and our attention. We do not need to try to take on everything. As a matter of fact, we may need to take on less. We do not need more quantity in our lives. But we can judiciously choose what to put our hands to, and once we choose those things, we can do them with all the good that is in our power. I once was in charge of training mentors to work with children at our local elementary school. In doing my research, I learned that studies have shown that mentors who work with a child for less than a year can actually do more harm than good. Most children need adults they can count on, long-term. We may be able to mentor only one child, or take on only one project, or do one good deed today. But we can do those things with all of our might. Let that be our focus this Advent. We can give that child our fullest attention, our best knock-knock jokes, and a snack (because we know everything is better with a snack). We cannot just hand someone on the street a dollar - we could ask him his name, or how he’s doing today. We can do things with a quality that truly shows God’s kingdom is breaking into our world again and again. What better witness to our longing for Christ?
Reflection Questions:
Where/how do you participate in doing good for others (and yourself) in your daily life?
Are those experiences quantity or quality? How could you shift them to be quality?
What impact does making peace have on your relationship with God?