The Holy Work I Didn’t Schedule

When a family emergency, a toddler, and cold coffee became today’s prayer

Scripture Passage — Galatians 6:9, NRSV

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time if we do not give up.

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Devotional Reflection

I thought I was going to write about patience.

Instead, God handed me a two-year-old, a cold cup of coffee, and a family emergency I couldn’t fix.

My granddaughter is with me today because her other Grandma is very ill, and her mom needs to be there. I had planned for quiet. I had pictured my laptop open, coffee beside me, and enough space to pray before the day started pulling at me.

But there were toys on the floor before I finished my first cup.

Little feet moved through the house. A tiny voice called for me again and again. Snacks had to be found. A cup needed filling. Something dropped. Something spilled. Something suddenly mattered very much to a two-year-old.

And underneath all of it was the reason she was here.

Her mom was where she needed to be.

Her other Grandma was ill.

The adults were carrying the heavy part while this little one just needed to feel safe.

At one point, I looked at my coffee sitting beside the laptop. It had gone cold again. The screen was still open, waiting for words I had not written yet. I felt that familiar tug inside me, the part that wants to finish what I started, stay on schedule, keep up, and get the devotional done.

Then my granddaughter reached for me.

That was the moment the work in front of me became clear.

Today’s faithful work was not the quiet morning I planned. It was making toast. It was picking up toys. It was holding a little body close when she needed comfort. It was keeping the house soft while the rest of the family sat inside a harder story.

Galatians 6:9 tells us not to grow weary in doing what is right.

I used to hear that verse like a push to keep going even when I was empty. Keep serving. Keep trying. Keep producing. Keep smiling through it.

Today, I heard it differently.

Doing what is right looked like putting my writing aside without resenting the child in front of me. It looked like praying under my breath while filling a sippy cup. It looked like letting my home become a safe place for a little girl who did not understand why the adults felt worried.

I could not heal the illness.

I could not remove the fear from everyone’s chest.

I could not control how the day would unfold.

But I could love the person God placed in front of me.

That is not small.

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Personal Reflection

I keep learning that faith does not always happen in the quiet room I imagine.

Sometimes it happens with cartoons playing in the background.

Sometimes it happens while I wipe crumbs from the table.

Sometimes it happens when I reheat the same cup of coffee for the third time and laugh a little because, apparently, warm coffee is not part of today’s plan.

I wanted a calm morning. I wanted to write from a place of peace. Instead, I was writing this message in pieces while living the message at the same time.

That feels like most of my faith journey.

I often need the words before I feel ready to offer them to anyone else.

Today, the message was not complicated. It was not polished. It was not wrapped in perfect silence.

It was this:

Love the person in front of you.

Stop fighting the day you thought you were supposed to have.

Let God be present in the interruption.

There was a time when a day like this would have sent my anxiety racing ahead of me. I would have rehearsed every possible outcome, worried about what I wasn’t getting done, and carried guilt for not being able to fix more.

I still felt the worry today.

But I also noticed something different.

I slowed down sooner. I softened faster. I stopped treating the interruption like an enemy. I let the little socks on the floor, the snack requests, and the small hand reaching for mine become part of the prayer.

That is growth for me.

Not perfect peace.

Not instant calm.

Just a little more room inside me to trust God with what I cannot control.

I don’t know what the rest of today will bring. I do know this: God did not leave when my plans changed.

He was here in the cold coffee.

He was here in the child’s voice, calling me.

He was here in the quiet ache I carried for the family members sitting beside illness.

He was here in the ordinary work of showing up.

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Journaling Prompts

1. What interruption has changed the shape of my day?
2. Who is God asking me to love in a practical way right now?
3. What am I trying to control that I need to place back in God’s hands?
4. Where did I notice God in an ordinary caregiving moment?
5. What would it look like to be gentle with myself today?

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Call to Connection

I don’t know what kind of interruption found you today.

Mine came with tiny feet, toys on the floor, cold coffee, and a family worry sitting quietly underneath everything.

Yours may look different. A phone call. A diagnosis. A loved one needing help. A child who needs more than you planned to give. A responsibility that arrived before you had time to prepare yourself.

The small work still matters.

The toast matters. The hug matters. The prayer whispered at the sink matters. The way you keep showing up with love when your heart is tired matters.

You do not have to fix everything to be faithful today.

Sometimes you only have to make the room safe, hold the hand in front of you, and trust God with the rest.

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Closing Prayer

Lord,

This day did not go the way I planned.

There is worry in my family, and there are needs right in front of me. Help me slow down enough to see the holy work inside this ordinary day.

Be near to the one who is ill. Strengthen the ones sitting close, making decisions, and carrying heavy emotions. Keep this little one wrapped in peace, safety, and love.

Help me release what I cannot control.

Give me patience for the interruptions, tenderness for the people who need me, and rest for the places in me that feel stretched thin.

Amen.

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