Ka Ipu o Lono shares weekly devotionals to provide spiritual enrichment to members of the Kamehameha Schools ‘ohana. For more inspiration, visit the KS “Our faith” website.
Heluhelu Baibala
E hauʻoli mau loa. E pule hoʻōki ʻole.
Ma nā mea a pau e hoʻomaikaʻi aku ai:
no ka mea, ʻo ia ko ke Akua manaʻo i
loko o Kristo Iesū iā ʻoukou.
- Tesalonike I 5:16-18 | | Rejoice always; pray without ceasing;
in everything give thanks;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
- I Thessalonians 5:16-18
|
He manaʻo o ke kahu
Have you ever tried to “E hauʻoli mau loa, rejoice always?” That’s a tall order. Yet that is what our scripture is telling us to do. How can we rejoice in this time of pandemic? What good is coming out of it? I asked this question of a group of seniors from the three campuses and they found ways to see what good has come from this time. Some of the responses were:
- I see more people out walking
- We’re spending more family time together
- We’re actually talking to one another
- We are eating as a family
- I’m learning to cook, and my family thought the meal was pretty good
- We started a garden
- I see a lot of people donating time, money and food items to those in need.
When we focus on the bad, we’ll see the bad all around us. But when we focus on the good, we’ll see it in abundance. We just need to change our focus. This time that we are going through is stressful, yet if we allow our minds and hearts to be opened, we will see some awesome growth which we can be joyful for.
Continuing on in the passage, we’re then told to “pray without ceasing.” In the mele “Make My Life a Prayer to You,” the late Keith Green writes:
Make my life a prayer to you
I wanna do what you want me to
No empty words and no white lies
No token prayers no compromise
When we pray without ceasing, we’re staying connected to ke Akua. We’re walking hand in hand, each and every step, each and every day. He’s able to speak into our naʻau, making subtle changes to our thinking, our living. When we do that, we’re taking on the character of ke Akua, and we’ll do what he wants us to. Yes, there will be times of testing, such as what we are going through now, but we will rise above it all. And we give thanks; for the good, the bad, the challenging, and the easy, ʻo ia ko ke Akua manaʻo i loko o Kristo Iesū iā ʻoukou.
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