My  grandmother had a routine on Saturday nights. Before she went to bed, she laid out all her clothing including the shoes she planned to wear to church the next morning. She always attended the early service and wanted to be ready to get up and go the next morning without any delay. One Saturday night she was suddenly hospitalized. Later, Jesus called her name and she died. When my grandfather returned home from the hospital, he found her clothes laid out. She’d been prepared to go to church as well as to meet her God. My grandmother’s ritual reminds me of the wisdom of the bridesmaids in the parable in Matthew 25. In the story, Christ tells His disciples to be ready for His coming: “Keep watch,” He said. No one knows “the day or the hour” He’ll return (v. 13), so it’s wise for us to be prepared. If we wait until the last minute to prepare, we could be like “the foolish ones” (v. 3). They ran out of oil because they hadn’t prepared well, and just after they left their posts to refill their lamps with oil, the bridegroom came. We may not need to lay out our clothes like my grandmother, but her ritual demonstrated her desire to be ready for church as well as for her Savior. May we use her wisdom to be ready for the most important things in life, serving Jesus as He leads us and being ready for His return.

Michael Sparks walked into a thrift store and bought a souvenir copy of the US Declaration of Independence for $2.48. Later, as he looked closely at his parchment copy, he felt there was something unusual about it. So he had it assessed by experts, who told him it was one of now thirty-six remaining copies of two hundred commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820. Sparks then sold his rare copy of the Declaration for $477,650! While the acquisition of this treasure for such a small price is astounding, there’s a treasure that’s infinitely better. As a child, I found out about a priceless, matchless, and eternal treasure that didn’t cost me a cent. But I didn’t find it at a thrift store. My parents revealed to me that a man named Jesus had purchased this gift by giving His life on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins. They then told me this gift was called salvation. It promised the treasure of an abundant “life to the full” on earth (John 10:10) and an “eternal life . . . life in [God’s] Son” with Jesus (1 John 5:11-12). I accepted that gift by faith. It's amazing to find an earthly treasure at low cost, but that can’t compare with the eternal treasure Christ offers at no cost. This treasure offered to each person is received as we “believe in name of the Son of God”—Jesus (v. 13).

With the referee’s final gesture, wrestler Kennedy Blades became a 2024 Olympian. She pressed her palms together, lifted her hands and eyes to the heavens, and gave God glory. A reporter asked about her growth over the past three years. The elite athlete didn’t even mention her physical training. “I’ve just gotten super close to Jesus,” she said. Professing Christ as King, she proclaimed that He’s coming again and encouraged others to believe in Him. “It’s Him,” she said. “That’s the main reason why I was able to accomplish such a big thing.” In other interviews, she faithfully declared that Jesus is everything to her and the reason for everything good in her life. This passion for living a God-centered life reflects David’s confessions in Psalm 63. Acknowledging his desperation for his creator, he said, “I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you” (v. 1). David had “seen” God and “beheld” His “power” and “glory” (v. 2). He declared God’s steadfast love as “better than life” (v. 3). Then, he prayed: “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me” (vv. 7-8). God was clearly everything to David. Our lives can be beacons that point others to a life-saving relationship with God when Jesus becomes our reason, our everything.

Living in a coastal town, Valerie loved warm weather, wildlife photography, and being in the water. Above all, she loved watching the sunrise over the ocean. Every morning, she woke up before dawn to catch a view of the water. Val estimated that despite cloudy weather or travel, she still managed to see more than 300 waterfront sunrises each year. She never tired of watching them. In her eyes, the sunrise held a glory she didn’t want to miss. In Exodus, we read about Moses’ radiant face, literally reflecting his glorious encounter with the Lord (Exodus 34). Paul said that since Jesus came, there is an even more glorious ministry than what Moses experienced (2 Corinthians 3:7). It is the ministry of the Spirit, which brings righteousness (v. 9). God’s plan of salvation has permanent glory, surpassing anything that came before (v. 10), and we get to participate in it. Paul said, “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory” (v. 18). That ever-increasing glory is not dependent on how well we perform, but on the Holy Spirit. We, like the clouds at sunrise, just reflect a little more and a little better each day the glorious work that He is doing.

“I don’t know where I’d be today if my mom hadn’t prayed for me. I don’t think I’d even be alive,” my friend Rahim related. He was a former addict who’d spent time in prison for drug distribution. Over coffee one day, he shared the difference his mother’s prayers had made in his life. “Even when I disappointed her so badly, she kept loving me with her prayers. I was in a lot of trouble, but if she hadn’t prayed for me, I know it would have been worse.” The Old Testament account of Samuel tells another story of someone who showed faithfulness to God and others through prayer. On the day Saul was coronated as king at Mizpah, the prophet Samuel was also disappointed. The people had placed their faith and hope for their future in a monarchy instead of in God. As the people gathered, God displayed His displeasure through an unseasonable storm that terrified them and made them regret their decision (1 Samuel 12:16-18). When they pleaded with Samuel to intercede for them, he replied, “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you” (v. 23). Samuel’s response reminds us that praying for others is a way of keeping God first in our hearts and lives. When we love others by praying for them, we open the door to witness what only He can do. And we never want to miss that.

My friend confided that he hadn’t been sleeping well. His sleeplessness was related to a difficult family situation that had kept him up at night. It happened that this was the day I was prepared to discuss Psalm 3 in my adult Sunday school class. In Psalm 3, King David also had a family problem, one that would lead most of us to sleeplessness. His son Absalom was undermining David’s rule over Israel as part of his plan to overthrow him and snatch the crown himself. David was in despair. He fled Jerusalem after a messenger said, “the hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom” (2 Samuel 15:13). In Psalm 3:1, David describes his situation: “Lord, how many are my foes!” But notice how David found peace. He recalled that God was his shield of protection and that He “lifts [his] head” (v. 3). Then came the help we all need when we fret over our circumstances: David was able to “lie down and sleep.” He observed, “I wake again, because the Lord sustains me” (v. 5). For my friend facing a tough time, this was great news. And for all of us who face hard circumstances and sleepless nights, our God protects us and gives us rest. When we place our total trust in Him, He helps us “lie down and sleep” (v. 5).

During a family reunion many years ago, my mother shared some words she’d written. She honored her grandmother, a woman I’d never met but had heard her spoken of often. Mom wrote that she recalled Mama Susan getting up “before dawn” and praying over her household. What a distinct memory that impacted my mother’s life—one I cling to even today although I never met my great-grandmother. This description reminds me of the woman described in Proverbs 31. She cared for her family in many tangible ways, and she got up “while it [was] still night” (v. 15). She had plenty to do to care for her family, such as providing food, purchasing land, planting a vineyard, making profitable trades, sewing clothes, and finishing many other tasks—all in the name of caring for the ones she loved. And she even extended her resourcefulness to “the poor and . . . the needy” (v. 20). Helping to care for a household during the time of the writing of Proverbs 31 was no easy feat, as demonstrated from the long list of duties described in this passage. And it wasn’t an easy feat for my great-grandmother, who was born in the 1800s. But prayers whispered early in the morning—as well as throughout the day—kept these women focused and encouraged as God helped them live out their calling to care for their family and others.