Colossians 3:12-14 (The Message)

12 -14 So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Today is a day of strength.  We all have battles to endure, sacrifices to make, and some sort of laboring.  Dictionary.com describes strength as:  the quality or state of being strong and  synonyms include:  power, force and might. In our current world situations; strength, power, force or might will be the determining factors in turning things around.

As I begin many of my days I get that cup of coffee and jump start into whatever needs to be done.  My strength seems to dwindle as the morning progresses and I am reminded of the need to power my body with food.  In many cases, we can see within ourselves the need for power from the Holy Spirit when we become more focused on solving our own issues than in releasing our burdens to God.   We think that we have the power to accomplish some things, but ultimately we are weak and powerless without the force, might and power of God.

During this next school year, it will take teamwork to accomplish many things for our children, educators, and community.  Teamwork is defined as:  cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause. In some cases, teachers have retired, lost their positions and others have made efforts to work together to make sacrifices of themselves  for others to insure that children can learn and will learn.

Sometimes taking second place can turn out to be much more rewarding than first place in many cases.  It’s the ability to see that what we once thought was the best possible answer to a problem could ultimately be the “best seat in the house.”  It puts you in a position of power, force and might in some cases to make the first place seat a little easier once you get there or it helps you to learn and make changes for good if and when you reach that first place seat.

Being able to say, “I’ll take second place” in some cases means that you are willing to wear love instead of “claiming the prize.”  In many cases, the prize isn’t worth the battle and love conquers all.   If you are willing to wear the cloak of love, then you have all the strength to win in any battle.   Love also means letting go.  Once you let go, you are free to receive.

My prayer for you today is that you wear the cloak of love.   That you receive more than you’ve ever given because of your ability to let go and that you find strength and power through Christ.