READ: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.—Psalm 103:8

REFLECT: How do you deal with people who disappoint you? One night as I read Psalm 103:8–10, I seemed to hear God say, “This is the way I deal with those who let Me down.” The Lord is compassionate and gracious….How often do I show mercy, compassion, clemency—to my children? My spouse? My friends or coworkers?

Slow to anger and abounding in mercy….“Abounding” means “filled to the very brim with.” Can I be filled with enough love to give up my own quick temper and respond to others with steadfast, “never-failing” love?

He will not always accuse….God is no nag….Nor will He harbor His anger forever. God holds no grudges. Can I give up my own nagging and grudges?

He does not treat us as our sins deserve….Can I learn to be gentle in dealing with the faults of others? Can I overlook their flaws? God’s way of dealing with people who disappoint Him is not my most natural way. It’s harder. But it’s also a far better way.

PRAY: Father, please forgive my slowness to forgive, my tendency to think I have a right to hold a grudge because someone deserves it. Thank You for Your abounding love and mercy.

DO: Memorize Psalm 103:8 and repeat it until you are able to forgive your friend the way God does.

You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great. Psalm 18:35 (NLT)

I love my mom’s hands. They are capable and hardworking. Veins line the top of them. They are weathered from years of working in her garden. But these are the hands that felt my feverish forehead when I was little. I reached for them in the middle of a crowd so that I could feel safe. They showed me how to clean, make chocolate chip cookies, and write my name.

When my boys were born, my mom’s were the first hands to give my babies a bath. They taught me how to swaddle and hold and nurture. My mom’s hands are my favorite. They are the embodiment of care and love.

Lately, my hands have begun to look more like my mom’s. My hands find a great deal of joy being in the dirt, planting flowers, and holding the hands of my growing boys. My hands cook and clean and take care of my family. And they write stories and mark the years as they fly by. I want my hands to be the embodiment of care and love.

The most amazing hands of all time were Jesus’ hands. His hands performed miracles and brought the dead to life. His hands broke bread and fish and fed thousands. His hands healed the sick and even helped the blind to see. His hands blessed the sun, warmed heads of children, and helped the lame to walk. Jesus’ hands are the true embodiment of care and love. When we use our hands to care for those around us, our hands are like Jesus’ hands. And those are the hands that will change the world.

Faith Step: Look at your hands. These are the hands of Jesus, showing love for the world you live in. Remember that throughout the day as you care for those you love.

It was one of those “Art in the Park” festivals.I milled about the paintings bunched under the trees along the sidewalk. One picture had attracted a crowd, and I ambled over for a look. In the upper left corner and the lower right corner of the canvas, the artist had painted a human heart inside a box. The rest of the canvas was blank, a gulf of empty space stretching between the two boxed hearts. The painting was titled Relationship.

As I stood wedged among the strangers, gazing at the picture, the truth of the image pierced me. I backed out of the crowd and found a bench, deeply affected, unable to get those boxed hearts out of my mind. Have I unknowingly related to people like that, God? I asked. Have I closed away my heart in subtle ways and let distance grow between myself and others?

That day I felt God summoning me to a journey of opening my heart, of creating deeper intimacy in my relationships to others. Won’t you join me as we focus on the relationships in our lives? Each month we’ll discover a new way to dismantle the boxes that keep us from relating to others heart-to-heart.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

My grandmother is the only person I have ever known who never showed any fear. She was human, so she must have felt it at some point in her life. Maybe she was afraid when, as a young wife and mother, she became a refugee, fleeing the Japanese as they invaded China. Or maybe she felt it in the late 1960s, when she immigrated to America, a land where the culture was foreign and the language incomprehensible. But I never saw a moment of it.

“You have to pray.” I can still hear the words in her warbly voice—a command, a piece of advice, and a grandmotherly reminder all wrapped up in one. My grandma, who died seventeen years ago, must have said those same words to me ten thousand times: when I was stressed about school, when I was angry at my father, when I was frustrated with some stupid or trivial thing as well as some more important ones. “You have to pray.”

She wasn’t a starry-eyed fantasist who thought that by turning to God, she’d get whatever she wanted. Certainly, her life showed that plenty of prayer hadn’t smoothed out the bumps: She lived through poverty and war and the death of one of her six children and much, much more.

No, it was because she understood that with prayer, she drew closer to God, and with God, she had nothing to fear. The presence of prayer meant the conquest of fear—because she had on her side the peace that passes all human understanding. And that, she taught me, was all you ever needed.

Lord, in good times and in bad times, in joy and in sorrow, remind me that I have to pray.

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What does God say?
Teach the wise and they will be wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn more.—Proverbs 9:9

Spider monkeys live in the rain forests of Central and South America. They are some of the most acrobatic monkeys in the world. With their long arms and legs and their gripping tails, they can swing through the trees with speed and jump from branch to branch without falling.

But when spider monkeys are young, they are not very graceful at all. They have to learn how to swing through the trees. Sometimes their mothers help them; but at other times, the young monkeys practice swinging from branch to branch by themselves. Sometimes they slip and fall. Then they must climb back up and try again. It takes lots of practice before they can travel through the trees as well as their parents.

Have you ever tried to do something that your older brother or sister or your parents can do? At first did it seem hard?

When we are learning to do new things, we all make mistakes. Just like the spider monkey, we have to try over and over again until we get it right. Practice is a good way to get better at doing things. When you practice riding a bike, singing a song, spelling a word, or reading a book, you get better each time. Don’t be afraid to practice—it’s the only way to improve!

What do you say?

• How many spider monkeys do you see in the picture?

• Why do the spider monkeys have to practice?

• What is something you have to practice?

• Why do you think God wants us to keep learning new things?

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