Janet and I are diligent about taking our daily regimen of pills and tablets. There are vitamins and allergy meds – and then some of the necessary stuff I take for blood pressure and cholesterol while Janet is more about drugs dealing with her RA. We make quite a pair between us. One of the things that Janet has tried to do is to replace as many pills as possible with chewable alternatives. It is easier for her than trying to swallow some of the really large stuff that she would otherwise have to get down.
And while I have never had a problem taking big pills (in fact, I used to take them without water), Janet sometimes has a real difficult time swallowing these days. It has become something of a mission of mine to make sure I find the smallest possible tablet for her to take – it just makes life so much easier when Janet can get her meds in “chewable” form. A year or so ago, she started taking vitamins and calcium and several other meds in chewable form. I even found vitamin C that way.
I never thought that much about it but the last time we made a run to pick up vitamins and allergy meds for me, we must have forgotten to buy enough because this week I noticed some strange looking “candies” in my daily regimen of things to take. Yes, there most of the items, but I couldn’t find the vitamin pill and I saw two chewable “gummy” vitamins instead.
Now I like candy as much as the next guy, but in all honesty, I like “Good ‘N Plenty” or “Whoppers” but I never cared for “Dots” – those kind of squishy jelly-like, gummy bear kind of candies that always stick to your teeth when you try to bite into them. And sure enough, there were two of them sitting on the counter – just waiting for me. I got them down – sticking to my teeth all the way, but I can see that for Janet they are easier than trying to swallow what my mother used to refer to as “horse pills.”
Of course, I questioned why the change; and Janet let me know that I was out of my regular vitamins and she made the last minute substitution. According to her, it doesn’t make any difference what form my vitamins are in – as long as I get them daily… Enough said… she has a point.
You know what? It’s the same way with our daily devotional time with God. Whether you spend time in church, in private worship, reading the Bible, or being in prayer, some sort of daily spiritual “vitamin” is required to keep your faith healthy. And it doesn’t have to be the same every day. Sometimes, God can be found in sacrificial service to others. At other times, it may be viewing nature, one of the spiritual pathways that people use to connect to the Father. Solitude, silence, community worship, reading devotional material and even music are other well known ways of communing with God. So you see, it doesn’t make much difference what kind of spiritual vitamin you take, as long as you do it daily – and that means every day, without fail. That’s spiritual discipline.
The verse for this evening is from the good Dr. Luke. The author of the third Gospel quotes Jesus and tells us, in Luke 9:23, “Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” That means that we must be more Christlike in our demeanor each day as we grow in our relationship with Him. My encouragement tonight is that Jesus wants to be in daily relationship with each of us. My prayer is that you will see the importance of a daily dose of time with the Lord of the universe and how important it is that you get fed in whatever way is available to you. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…