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The other day I remarked to Shelley this column is my 260th installment of this little series I write about finding faith in everyday circumstances.
In other words, happy fifth anniversary to me!
"Two hundred and sixty columns. That's a lot of words," she deadpanned.
A lot of words indeed! About 135,000 of them as a matter of fact. I'll let you decide whether any of them were important.
As for me, I just simply marvel that there are folks who are interested in a faith column that discusses things such as nature, and fishing, and my family and our losses and joys, and Sunday morning church, and confirmation class, and being kind, and being curious but not judgmental, as Ted Lasso tells us to do.
I know this column isn't everyone's cup of faith tea, as the ol' adage goes. Not theologically based enough for some, I suspect. But that is exactly what drove me to accept the challenge from the beginning. Because humbly, I think faith has to be a lifestyle that's celebrated all week long, not just in those 60 minutes on Sunday morning.
In fact, having taken an abrupt career change two-and-a-half years into writing the column actually has given me the gift of seeing faith from an entirely different perspective. And now rather than seeing faith as a practice confined to small boxes on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings, I see faith truly in the most trivial of everyday circumstances.
I emphasize the word "trivial” because the truth that I've learned in my new role at our mission is that none of what we do is trivial. It's all a choice: how we spend our time, how we spend our money, who we love, our intentions. Choices, every one of them, big and small.
And so if we are to live a life of faith, we must also mind our everyday circumstances. Where we decide to work, play and live; who we befriend, love and serve; how we spend our time; and how we use our vocational gifts. All of these are choices that need to be shaped by our faith.
Friends, that is what I've learned in the five years of writing this column. Your faith life isn't grand gestures; but rather it's small choices ... each and every day.
For those of you who've stuck around for this column for all five years, wow, words fail me. But thank you! ... For those who are newer to the "Finding Faith" community, welcome! We drive a big bus! There's always room for more friends!
What's next for this column? Only the Holy Spirit knows, as that is where the inspiration comes from on a weekly basis. But I promise you that if you keep reading, I'll keep writing.
Let's see what happens on this next leg of 135,000 words. Amen?
Devlyn Brooks is the CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.