“At the threshold of a new day stands the Lord who made it.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer called followers of Jesus to look at the beginning of each new day with the hope that God gives us. Our anxieties and concerns of the night before can be set aside. The distractions that filled our heads the day before are dispersed by the light of each new day. 

Easier said than done, right? Too often our days are ordered around the demands of work and family and community, all good things that God calls us to, but things that when placed at the center of our lives, take our eyes off of God. Bonhoeffer told his readers that if we want to make sure that God and God’s purposes are at the center of our days, we will spend time each day reading or listening to God’s word, singing songs of praise to God, and listening to God in prayer.

This week, instead of offering a question to ponder, I will share a passage from Scripture, a song, and a prayer to help us do these things together this week. Pray that God would make this a daily practice for us as we seek to order our lives around God.

Read: Ephesians 5:1-20
Sing: Take It to the Lord in Prayer by Aeolians of Oakwood University
Pray: A Prayer for Refreshment by Saint Augustine of Hippo
O Lord our God,
let us find hope under the shadow of your wings.
You will support us,
both when little,
and even to gray hairs.
When our strength is from you, it is strength.
When our own, it is weakness.

We return to you, O Lord,
that our weary souls may rise towards you,
leaning on the things which you have created,
and passing on to yourself,
since you have wonderfully made them;
for with you is refreshment and true strength. Amen.
Source of this version: Prayers of the Early Church, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1953
This week’s devotions are adapted from the book, Life Together  by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Harper, San Francisco. 1954.