ten.

de·vo·tion
–noun
1. profound dedication; consecration.
2. earnest attachment to a cause, person, etc.
—Synonyms 2. zeal, ardor. See love.

there is this church. I work at this church, or realistically, I teach and I learn at this church. What I do does not seem like a job. I have dance parties, play with play-doh, become the lava monster, and I have the opportunity to see the face of God in so many beautiful children. As we speak I can hear them down each end of the hall. A pre-schooler who I love dearly (not that I don't love all of them dearly) made my morning with the gasp of excitement and a running tackle of love. This is why what I do is not work. However, this is nowhere near my point. As you have seen above, this is about devotion. There are 4 key values that our church has been striving to achieve as of lately. Devotion is the last one on the sermon list (certainly not least of course) but it is placed on the list with things of equally great importance. Worship, Community and Serving. Devotion, being in the word, is probably the value and spiritual discipline that I struggle most with. How convenient that just yesterday I started my first devotional. My life has been changing significantly these past couple months, going to places that are so far from the heart of God, it has been a constant prayer that I would be stronger in my faith to stay close to God through these changes. Of course God has been more faithful than I ever could have imagine. Devotion is something I have been working on and feel that (although I will always be deepening my faith) this might be what makes my faith mature.

This last week I had a conversation with a very dear friend of mine who I had not seen since she got married in July. It started out as just a normal coffee date... "how has school been?" "what's new?"... you know... as we sat there in a nearly empty cottage, we began to talk about faith. We asked questions of each other, her being a life long Christian and myself only about 5 years. I am constantly curious to know what it would have been like to grow up in a Christian home to know the stories from practically infancy. I learned the entire story of Jonah from seeing the veggietales movie in high school. My faith is a mis-matched tapestry of so many denominations and influences throughout the past five years. She asked me about my views, and how they differed from people my age who grew up in Christian households. And I think they are different, not that I am more open minded or more liberal, although I think i am compared to some. But that, in not nessisarily a bad way, it might be harder for people who learn about God in their adult life to see or hear him because they have gone so long without Him. This is why devotion is important, I am learning to see and hear God, what He wants for me and my life, and how He wants me to glorify Him. I may not be close, but I striving and learning to have a profound dedication to the creator of my life.