St. Andrews Parish UMC

09/08/2026

Day 119 — Don’t Live on Autopilot

“How sad if my life were only made up of habits I formed yesterday.”

One small thing you can do today to make the world better: Interrupt one habit and ask whether it is still taking you where you want to go.

I've been thinking about habits.
We all have them.
Some are good.
Some are not.
Some make life easier.
Some make life better.
Some help us become healthier, kinder, more faithful people.
Thank God for good habits!

But then there are others.
Habits we never really chose.
Habits we developed when we were hurt.
Habits formed out of fear.
Habits that once helped us survive something but aren't helping us live anymore.
Ways of thinking.
Ways of reacting.
Ways of speaking.
Ways of seeing ourselves.
Ways of seeing other people.

And if we aren't careful...yesterday's habits can become today's autopilot.
Think about how sad that would be.
To live the rest of my life simply repeating patterns I formed years ago.
To respond tomorrow exactly as I responded yesterday.
To think the same thoughts.
Hold the same grudges.
Repeat the same assumptions.
React with the same anger.
Carry the same fears.
Avoid the same people.
Make the same excuses.

And then call it...“just who I am.”

Friends, that's not how grace works.
Grace says: You are still being formed.
God is not finished with you.
Following Jesus means there is always the possibility that something in us can change.

Remember Day 118?
We talked about resurrection.
Something old can die...and something new can come alive.

Well, sometimes resurrection looks remarkably ordinary.
Sometimes resurrection is simply...breaking an old habit.
Responding differently.
Listening instead of reacting.
Praying instead of worrying.
Forgiving instead of rehearsing the hurt.
Getting up instead of giving up.
Trying something new.
Saying yes where you always said no.
Or finally saying no where you always felt obligated to say yes.

Maybe that's one reason Jesus kept saying: “Follow me.”
Following requires movement.
You cannot follow Jesus while insisting that you will always remain exactly where you've always been.

So here's today's One Small Thing: Catch yourself doing something simply because...“That's what I always do.”
And stop for a moment.
Ask: Is this habit helping me become the person God is calling me to be?
If it is...keep going!
But if it isn't...try something different.
Even once.
Because one different choice...repeated tomorrow...and the next day...can eventually become something wonderful: a new habit.

And a new habit can become a new way of living.
We don't have to spend tomorrow trapped inside patterns we formed yesterday.
Grace is still forming us.
Don't live on autopilot.
Keep following.
Keep growing.
Keep becoming.

Love First...Love Always!
🙏❤️🙏
Rev B

09/07/2026

Day 118 — We Were Made to Live!

“If we are dying with Christ daily, let's not forget—we are being raised with Christ daily too!”

One small thing you can do today to make the world better: Notice one place where following Jesus is bringing you more fully to life.

We Christians talk a lot about dying.
Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him.
Paul talks about dying to the old self.
We talk about surrender.
Sacrifice.
Letting go.
Dying to sin.
Dying to self.
And all of that matters.

But friends...let's not stop at the tomb!

Because if we are truly following Jesus...death is never the end of the story.
Resurrection is!

If something in me is dying because I'm following Christ...
then something else is being brought to life.
Maybe my resentment is dying...and forgiveness is coming alive.
Maybe my selfishness is dying...and generosity is coming alive.
Maybe my need to be right is dying...and humility is coming alive.
Maybe my fear is dying...and trust is coming alive.
Maybe my prejudice is dying...and love is coming alive.
Maybe the person I used to be is slowly dying...because by the grace of God...the person I was created to be is coming alive!

That's resurrection!

And maybe we don't talk about that enough.
Following Jesus isn't a lifelong project of becoming smaller, sadder, emptier, and more miserable.

Jesus said: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

We were made for life!
Real life.
Abundant life.
Kingdom life.
Life filled with love and joy and peace and grace.

Yes, there are things in us that need to die.
But they need to die because they are keeping us from truly living.

Jesus isn't trying to take our lives away from us.
He's teaching us how to finally live them.

So here's today's One Small Thing: Look at your life and ask: “What is Jesus bringing alive in me?”

More patience?
More compassion?
More courage?
More generosity?
More peace?
More love?

Celebrate it!

Because following Jesus isn't only about what we're leaving behind.
It's also about who we're becoming.

Every day we take up the cross.
Every day something old can die.

But friends...every day can be Easter too!
Something new can rise.
Something beautiful can come alive.

Because resurrection isn't only something we believe happened to Jesus two thousand years ago.
Resurrection is the pattern of the Christian life.
We die with Christ.
We rise with Christ.
And by grace...we learn to really live.

We were made to live!

Love First...Love Always!
🙏❤️🙏
Rev B

09/06/2026

09/06/2026

Traditional Service 9/6/26 Speaking “Truth with Love”

Late Service 09/06/2026

09/06/2026

Contemporary Service 9/6/26 “Speaking Truth with Love”

Early Service 09/06/2026

09/06/2026

Day 117 — Check Your Motive Before You Speak

“Truth spoken in love should sound like love.”

One small thing you can do today to make the world better: Before saying something difficult, ask yourself what you hope your words will produce.

I've been thinking a lot about truth lately.
Jesus calls us to be truthful people.
Truth matters.

There are times when love requires us to say something difficult.
But I've also noticed something else.

We Christians sometimes use the phrase “speaking the truth in love” right before saying something that doesn't sound particularly loving.

"I'm only telling you this because I love you..."Uh-oh. 😂
Here it comes!

And maybe we need to look a little deeper at what Paul was actually talking about.
In Ephesians 4, the goal isn't winning an argument.
It isn't correcting everyone around us.
It isn't proving that we're right.
The goal is growing into Christ.

That changes things.
Because now the question isn't simply: “Is what I'm about to say true?”
There's another question: “What do I hope this truth will do?”

Do I want to help?
Or hurt?
Heal?
Or humiliate?
Restore?
Or retaliate?

Am I trying to build this person up...or finally put them in their place?

Those questions can be uncomfortable.
Because sometimes the words coming out of our mouths may technically be true...while the thing motivating them is anything but love.

And there's another piece of this that requires humility.
Sometimes what I call “the truth” is actually...my perspective.
My interpretation.
My assumption.
My side of the story.

I can be absolutely convinced that I'm right...and still have something to learn.

So speaking truth in love requires more than courage.
It requires humility.

Enough courage to speak when something needs to be said.
Enough love to care how it is received.
And enough humility to admit that I may not see everything clearly.

Jesus did not use truth as a weapon.
He used truth to set people free.
That's a very different thing.

So here's today's One Small Thing: Before you say the difficult thing...pause.
And ask: “What am I hoping these words will produce?”

If the answer is healing...restoration...understanding...growth...love...then speak.
Carefully.
Humbly.
Lovingly.

But if what you really want is to embarrass them...win...hurt them back...prove your superiority...or finally get the last word...maybe the most truthful thing you can do...is remain quiet until love catches up with your mouth.

Because speaking the truth in love isn't just about getting the truth part right.

The love part matters too!

In fact...truth spoken in love should sound like love.

Love First...Love Always!
🙏❤️🙏
Rev B

09/05/2026

A Little Heart Behind One Small Thing

Something happened while I was writing Day 116 that made me stop.
I wrote this sentence: The Way isn't only teaching us to do different things; grace is teaching us to see differently.

And I thought...That's it.

That's another piece of what these little daily reflections have slowly become.

When One Small Thing began, the idea was pretty simple: What is one small thing we can do today to make the world a little better?
Smile at someone.
Pick up the trash.
Send the note.
Make the call.
Hold the door.
Encourage someone.

Simple things.
And I still believe deeply in those things.

But somewhere along the Way, something deeper began happening.
We weren't only talking about what we do.
We started talking about how we see.

And I'm beginning to wonder if following the Way of Jesus is actually curing a kind of blindness in us.
Not blindness of the eyes.
Blindness of the heart.
The kind of blindness that lets us walk past someone who is hurting without seeing them.
The kind that looks at another human being and sees a label instead of a person.
The kind that sees an enemy but cannot see a neighbor.
The kind that sees everything wrong with the world but somehow misses all the places where God is still doing something beautiful.
The kind that looks at what we have and only sees what we don't have.
The kind that looks at someone we've decided is difficult, annoying, or even unlovable...and stops looking.

Maybe one of the things Jesus is doing as we follow Him is slowly giving us our sight back.

Because Jesus saw differently.
Where others saw a tax collector...Jesus saw someone worth inviting down from a tree.
Where others saw a sinner...Jesus saw someone worth sitting beside.
Where others saw a blind beggar...Jesus heard a voice worth stopping for.
Where others saw children as interruptions...Jesus saw the Kingdom.
Where others saw enemies...Jesus saw people to love.

Jesus didn't merely do different things.
Jesus saw differently.

And maybe following Jesus—the Way—is learning to see the world through His eyes.

That's why I keep coming back to this idea that One Small Thing is becoming something like a catechism of the Kingdom.

We're learning the Kingdom not merely by memorizing what Jesus taught...but by practicing His Way until His Way begins changing us.
At first, maybe I choose to forgive because Jesus told me to.
But eventually...grace changes my eyes, and I begin seeing the person who hurt me differently.

At first, maybe I choose generosity because Jesus told me to give.
But eventually...grace teaches me to see what I have differently.

At first, maybe I choose to love the stranger because Jesus commanded me to love my neighbor.
But eventually...grace changes my vision so completely that I stop seeing a stranger at all.

That's formation!

Maybe discipleship isn't simply Jesus teaching our hands what to do.
Maybe it's Jesus teaching our eyes what to see.
And I think that's what these little practices are really about.
Not becoming people who simply know more rules.
Not becoming people who perform enough good deeds.
Not becoming people who think we're better than everybody else.
But becoming people whose hearts have been shaped so deeply by grace...that we begin to see what Jesus sees.

And here's what happens when our blindness begins to heal:

When we see differently...we begin to love differently.
When we love differently...we begin to live differently.

And little by little...the Way becomes our way!

That's the heart behind One Small Thing!

We aren't simply trying to do better things.
Grace is teaching us to see differently.
Maybe that's one of the miracles of following Jesus.
We start noticing people we once overlooked.
We start seeing goodness we once missed.
We start recognizing grace in places we never expected it.
We start seeing the image of God in people we had already labeled.

And eventually...we may discover that the Kingdom wasn't as hidden as we thought!

We were learning how to see it.

Love First...Love Always!
🙏❤️🙏
Rev B

09/05/2026

Day 116 — Look Again

“Maybe the problem isn't what we're looking at. Maybe it's how we're looking.”

One small thing you can do today to make the world better: When you're tempted to dismiss something—or someone—look again.

I've been thinking about two statements:
Nothing is inherently uninteresting. Sometimes we are simply uninterested.
And...
No one is inherently unlovable. Sometimes we are simply being unloving.

Those are uncomfortable thoughts.
Because both of them move the responsibility from out there...to in here.
It's easy to say:
"That's boring."
But what if I haven't become curious enough to discover what's interesting about it?
It's easy to say:
"That person is difficult."
But what if I haven't taken the time to learn their story?
And it's especially easy to say:
"They're just unlovable."
But followers of Jesus probably need to be very careful with that word.
Unlovable.
Because Jesus never seemed to meet one.

He met difficult people.
Broken people.
Angry people.
Self-righteous people.
Greedy people.
Sinful people.
People who misunderstood Him.
People who betrayed Him.
People who nailed Him to a cross.

But somehow...Jesus kept finding someone to love.
Maybe love has less to do with discovering people who are lovable...and more to do with becoming people who know how to love.

And maybe wonder works the same way.
The world doesn't run out of interesting things.
We stop paying attention.
People don't run out of worth.
We stop looking deeply enough to see it.

That's the deeper problem.

We can move through this extraordinary world God has made labeling things:
Boring.
Annoying.
Ordinary.
Difficult.
Unimportant.
Unlovable.

And eventually those labels become excuses that allow us to stop looking.
But Jesus had this remarkable way of looking again.
Where others saw a tax collector...Jesus saw Zacchaeus.
Where others saw a blind beggar...Jesus saw Bartimaeus.
Where others saw a sinful woman...Jesus saw a daughter of God.
Where others saw children who were interrupting something important...Jesus saw the Kingdom.

Jesus kept seeing more.
Maybe following Him means learning to do the same.

So here's today's One Small Thing: Look again.

When something seems boring...get curious.
When someone seems difficult...wonder what they're carrying.
When someone seems unlovable...remember whose image they bear.

Don't immediately ask: “What's wrong with them?”
Try asking: “What am I not seeing yet?”

Because maybe the world becomes more interesting when we become more curious...and people become more lovable when we become more loving.

Look again.

There may be more there than you thought.

Love First...Love Always!
🙏❤️🙏
Rev B

09/04/2026

Day 115 — Appreciate What You Have
“Having more means very little if we haven't learned to appreciate what we already have.”

One small thing you can do today to make the world better: Before you reach for something more, stop and appreciate something you already have.

I've been thinking about appreciation.
And I'm beginning to wonder if life without appreciation makes much sense.

Because what good is having something...if we never stop long enough to appreciate it?
And what good is having more of something...than we have the capacity to appreciate?

More money.
More possessions.
More experiences.
More accomplishments.
More recognition.
More opportunities.

We live in a world that constantly teaches us to ask:
“What's next?”
What's the next thing I can buy?
The next place I can go?
The next goal I can reach?
The next thing I can add?

And there isn't necessarily anything wrong with wanting to grow, experience new things, or enjoy the blessings life brings.
But there's a danger in constantly reaching for more:
We can become so focused on what we don't have...that we stop experiencing what we do have.

Maybe abundance isn't measured only by how much we possess.
Maybe abundance is also measured by how deeply we appreciate it.

A simple meal that you truly enjoy.
A conversation you don't rush.
A home you are grateful to return to.
A friend whose presence you don't take for granted.
A spouse you still notice.
A sunrise you actually stop to watch.
A church family you recognize as a gift.

A life that may not be perfect...but is still filled with grace.

Jesus once asked ten people suffering from leprosy to go show themselves to the priests.
Along the way, all ten were healed.
Only one came back to say thank you.

Ten received the gift.
One stopped long enough to appreciate it.

I wonder how often I'm one of the other nine.

Blessed...but already moving on to the next thing.

So here's today's One Small Thing:
Before asking for more today...appreciate what is already here.
Hold the cup of coffee a little longer.
Look around your home.
Notice the person sitting across from you.
Thank someone.

Thank God.

Enjoy something without immediately wondering what comes next.

Because maybe one of the secrets to an abundant life isn't having more and more things to appreciate.
It's learning to appreciate more and more of the things we already have.

Maybe we don't always need more.
Maybe sometimes...we need to notice more.

Love First...Love Always!
🙏❤️🙏
Rev B

09/04/2026

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