Editor’s note: As Loma Linda University Health continues a massive construction project to build the new Medical Center and Children’s Hospital towers, the chaplains invite members of the campus to pray and fast each Tuesday, asking for God’s guidance and wisdom as we continue to grow. Below is a devotional from a series in News of the Week based on the biblical book of Nehemiah, in which Nehemiah faced a massive building project of his own.
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Be still, for this is a holy day. –Nehemiah 8:11
The alarm clock rings, but you are already half awake. It’s hard to sleep when the to-do list is so long. Sluggishly, you pull on your sweats and head outside for a brisk walk. (Well, it was intended to be brisk, but with so little sleep, it’s hard to move very fast.)
As soon as you’re back in the house, you wake up the kids before heading to get a quick shower. While trying to get ready for work, you are interrupted at least four times by children who: A) have lost their homework, B) can’t find their shoes, C) are arguing about who has to feed the dog and D) have gum in their hair.
Running late, you hastily throw lunches together, only to hear, “Do we have to have peanut butter again?” As you run out the door, you trip over last week’s laundry, which you haven’t had time to fold … and you are off and running!
It doesn’t seem very much like a holy day, does it?
In Nehemiah’s story, after the wall was built and the exiles returned — after they had settled into their new homes in their old country — the people gathered together one morning to hear the reading of the law.
It wasn’t the Sabbath; it was just a day they gathered to hear the word of God. The priests told the listeners, “Be still, for this is a holy day.” It wasn’t holy because it was a feast day. It wasn’t holy because some great orator was delivering a speech. It was holy because the people listened to God.
The implications are profound, yet simple. What if every day became a holy day? What if we took time each day to listen to God, to hear His word? How might our lives change if we committed time each morning or evening to reading scripture and praying about what God wanted to teach us through it?
Maybe we could turn every day into a holy day.
Kathy McMillan, MA
Director, employee spiritual care
Loma Linda University Medical Center