April
3, 2024 ~ Wednesday in Easter Week
Acts
3:1-10
"One day Peter and John were going up
to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And
a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the
gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from
those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to
go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked
intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And
he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter
said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took
him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles
were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to
walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising
God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and
they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the
Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and astonishment
at what had happened to him."
Jesus, our Christ
~
as Peter, John, and the other Apostles began to discover and accept the
gifts given them by You through the Holy Spirit, help us to discover and accept and
use the gifts we each have from You. Few if any of us would
believe that we could heal someone physically without the gift of an education
for becoming a medical doctor or nurse. But a simple hello, a smile, or asking
a person if we may say a prayer with them at their bedside when they are ill,
remembering to say a simple blessing over our food before eating even if alone,
done in Your name whether out loud or silently, are gifts we can use in any
moment of life without a formal education. I know, yet must regularly work to
remember, that gifts I give, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant,
are gifts received.
Guide us, O Lord of us
all, to stop at the top and bottom of each hour, to consciously breathe in Your
Presence that is always available to fill our minds, our hearts, and our souls.
As we breathe out, let us send Your Grace to fill the world around us, to bless
all we meet and pass by, to the neighbors just beyond our windows and to those
beyond our reach. May each breath remind us of You as we give the gift of Your
healing love, more by how we live our lives than by the words that we speak.
amen.
~Take a moment today to read the fairly short
chapter of 1 Corinthians 12:1-27 to know again the Gifts of the Spirit
given to us. If you don’t have a Bible at hand, click here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+12&version=NRSVUE
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