By Ammon Allen-Doucot, a sophomore at Goshen College Reprinted from Lenten Devotions DEVOTIONAL: It may be a first-year college student problem, but of late I feel as though I have no free time. There are, of course, classes, which come with no small amount of work. I also have my job in the Campus Center for Young Children and daily practices for track. And then there are those little things that take a surprising amount of time: eating meals, cleaning the room, calls home, showering and that minor thing called sleeping. Upon realizing the time I "lost” to these things, I began to cut them out. First it was the occasional skipped dinner on Mondays, then it was a quick text to Mom: “I’ll call on Sunday, no time now.” As the workload increased, more things were removed. This culminated in the flu I caught the week before spring break. I became more or less incapable of doing anything without help. Help from my teammates at practice, help from my friends finding food and studying whilst having no energy, help from professors when all I wanted to do was sleep for a straight week. This dependence on others, especially in light of my recent “cut out” incidents, is what I was thinking and praying on before writing this devotional, which is focused around Jesus teaching the disciples about the importance of communal care. I guess an extension on an assignment, or a glass of water and an Ibuprofen aren’t exactly the same as feet washing, but I definitely have a better understanding of the relationship between disciples. I encourage you to remember to make time for the little things, which when combined create a big thing: community. I am unashamed in my need for my community and the Holy Spirit therein. SCRIPTURE: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 (NRSV)
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Melanie Stanley-Soulen pastored Allen-Lee United Methodist Church from 2007 until 2013. Archives
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