Do I view this as a commandment? Do I live this as a commandment? Do I teach this as a commandment? The Lord has made this day and every day so that I might be alive. And if I am going to live, what shall I do with the time I have on this earth?

I could lament. There are many things in this world that are worthy of tears. There is pain and suffering in this world.

I could ignore. I could go about my earthly life working, traveling, buying things, and enjoying the pleasures of the world.

I could consider myself to be my own purpose. I could work hard to learn, to develop my talents, to earn money in order to gain fame and fortune.

Or if I view this verse as a commandment, as a call to action, perhaps I begin to understand. I have received a gift. When I focus on what Jesus teaches me, then I learn where to see a path and rejoice in where it leads me.

Jesus says the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind". He follows this with "love your neighbor as yourself" and that all other commandments are based on these two.

I can begin each day praying that I see the needs of others and rejoice when I am able to help. I can look for what is good in God’s creation and be glad in it.

I can celebrate, hug, and dance. I can laugh, love, and share. How else does one show gratitude for the gifts we receive?

I can share my talents instead of hoarding them. I can be present for those who have a need. And once I have started doing this, others will have a space to rejoice and be glad as well.

Each and every day that I am in this kingdom that God has made, I have the privilege of choosing how I perceive and react to what is in my life.

Dear Lord in heaven above and in my heart, guide me in seeing the joy that I can bring to those who need help. Guide me to see where my gifts can be shared. And always help me to remember to be grateful for all that You have provided and rejoice in Your glory, Amen.

This devotional was written by Jill Pope and read by Susan Daves.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

It’s probably not uncommon to think of music when you read the Psalms. After all, many of the Psalms were written as songs. When reading this Psalm, I think of the song “10,000 Reasons,” recorded by Matt Redman.

This second verse of Psalm 103 reminds us to remember all of the Lord’s benefits. I would think that number is infinite, but 10,000 is a pretty good start.

The second verse of “10,000 Reasons,” extols some of the benefits David, the Psalmist, wants us to remember.

It’s always a good practice to remember God’s goodness, or some of your own 10,000 reasons.

In this month where we focus on thankfulness and gratitude, I’d like to share some of my blessings. I’m thankful for the Christian community at 1st United Methodist Church of Maryville and for the good they do in the community. I praise the success and community support of our dementia care program, Daybreak. I am grateful for Celebrate Recovery ministering to those with hurts, habits, and hang-ups. I am thrilled about the adults who support Rise and Shine that reaches so many youths in our community.

I honor those who serve those who are hungry at Welcome Table. I am blessed by the church staff who support church members with their spiritual growth. I love my Sunday School classmates, fellow choir members and bell ringers, who love and support each other like family.

I am thankful for you who listen to Grace for All, and for Jim Stovall and Greta Smith, who had the idea for a member-driven podcast that is now completing its second year.

What are some of your 10,000 reasons? I encourage you to take some time today to think about a few of them.

Dear Lord, we are human, and it is often easier for us to focus on what frustrates us. Let us not forget your benefits. May we focus today on blessing you and the benefits you provide to us every day. Amen.

This devotional was written by Kathryn King, and read by Sally Stovall.

You can listen to 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) here on Spotify.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0fxpHpK3aw2nFWII6yveDD?si=e8fddb4a7d41402c

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

You are listening to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast produced by the people of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee.

This is Scripture Saturday, a time when we pause and reflect on the scriptures we have read throughout the week. If you missed any of our devotionals on these passages, you can find them on our website at 1stChurch.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, we invite you to listen and receive Grace. Welcome and thank you for joining us.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

The musical “Oklahoma” has one of my favorite opening numbers, entitled “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!” in which the main character, Curley, comes singing to Aunt Eller and is taking such delight and pleasure in what a beautiful morning and day it is.

His infectious joy in this opening number spreads on when he compares all the sounds of the Earth to music, even saying that he feels the day is so beautiful that the sounds of nature are coming alive and sharing his joy, with even “the old weeping willow laughing at him.”

While we may be so caught up in the happenings of our day to day lives, I feel that Curley’s infectious joy and appreciation for what a beautiful morning and beautiful day are surrounding him are attitudes that we can strive to hold and be thankful for. If there’s any one thing I would like to challenge you to do today, it’s this: take a moment to examine your surroundings and appreciate what a beautiful morning, or depending on what time this message should reach you, what a beautiful day you have found yourself in, and take joy and gladness in this day that the Lord has made while giving yourself a bit of respite from the happenings and responsibilities of your day to day life.

Dear Lord, thank you for this day you have made. Help us remember to take a moment and appreciate the beauty of each day in the midst of our day-to-day lives. May this appreciation help us find small seeds of joy in our most troubling moments. Amen.

This devotion was written and recorded by Grace Jonas.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Let’s get up and walk the walk with Jesus! It’s so easy to talk the talk. The walk takes effort!

I am fortunate to participate in a very collegial adult Sunday School class at First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee! Here are some examples of how classmates walk that walk.

Mike was motivated to participate in Celebrate Recovery by his wife Sandy. He tells me that he is willing to pitch in with any role that Jesus would ask him to fill, and that ranges from helping with the church sound system to being the go to person every Sunday that opens class with prayer.

Shirley says that God gives us many given abilities. Hers is the motivation to serve at Welcome Table. Welcome Table offers a free hot evening meal every Thursday as a very successful community outreach to personify God’s love.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:40, “Even when you did it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it unto me.”

Bernice also participates in Celebrate Recovery and Welcome Table, along with other means of service at First United Methodist. Her motivation comes from a ladies conference weekend years ago where she felt the presence of Jesus in her midst, and He had a message for her: “Go teach My words!” which she has with consistency, enthusiasm, and determination.

So let’s follow their examples and get out there and go do!

James writes in Chapter 2:17, “Thus faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Find your way to reach out and help your brothers, sisters, and children. Jesus tells us that when you do so, you are doing it unto Him. There are so many ways to consistently personify that love!

Find yours!

God above, in this world of hurt and need, guide us to go and do your will. Is it simply purchasing and donating that extra can of food, or is it more? Open our hearts and minds to do your will! Amen.

This devotion was written and recorded by Sam Barto.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

These words remind me that our strength and faith come from connection. When we realize that we are connected, or rooted, in the world that God gave us, we are sustained even in challenging times.

I have recently heard a series of conversations on WUOT between reporter Pierce Gentry and East Tennessee survivors of Hurricane Helena, which struck in September of 2024. A year later, Gentry revisited people he had met in the storm’s aftermath. The people he interviewed lost everything in the floods that accompanied the storm.

Michael Davis of Butler, TN, remembered, ”My trailer was sitting there, but it was full of water, so we lost our clothes and 54 years of pictures. Our baby pictures, our wedding pictures. All of it.”

Allyson Felty recalled, “It was terror. It was terror. And mostly because of the unknown. I never would have expected anything to that magnitude.”

Frank Brough, who lived in a historic house built by the Sevier family in 1846, said the water came up to the second story joists. The hardest decision Brough had to make was whether to attempt to save the house. But the community stepped in. When neighbors came in to help, Brough recalled, “they carried mud out…in five-gallon containers, and they probably moved a million pounds of mud.”

Joy Lambert, who had left her home for higher ground, watched as nearby apartments were swept off their foundation by the raging waters and hit her mobile home. “I seen it go, and yet my eyes couldn’t fathom what I had seen.”

Pierce Gentry asked all these survivors the same question at the end of the interviews: “What does healing mean to you?” The similarity of their answers is inspiring:

Alyson Felty said, “You know, God is so good. And He has provided to us more than I could have ever imagined.”

Michael Davis answered, “Thank God for all of God’s people. Without God’s people, I wouldn’t be here.”

Joy Lambert answered, “Healing for me is just to trust the Lord and leave it to Him.”

His voice choking up with tears, Frank Brough answered, “All of the time God is good. He is in control…My wife and I live in faith, believing all things work together for good for those that love the Lord.”

The people of East Tennessee are resilient and are rooted in faith. Even though many roots were washed away in Hurricane Helene, the deep roots of faith and community have sustained them. They are like ‘a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.’

Dear God, thank you for keeping us rooted even in the most tragic times. Thank you for showing us the humanity in our communities that overcomes the worst that can happen and restores our hope. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

This devotional was written by Laura Derr and read by Judy Wilson.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

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I read this passage recently, and it dawned on me that this rich man had possibly had an Abraham and Isaac moment. God asked Abraham to give up the thing he loved most, his son.

Isaac had been the long-promised child for Abraham and Sarah and was the linchpin for God’s covenant to make Abraham the father of many nations. But when Abraham obeyed despite all this, God gave Isaac back to his parents, and the covenant was ultimately fulfilled.

In the case of the rich man, Mark tells us, “Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him” and asked him to give up the thing that was nearest and dearest to him, his wealth. He was obviously a devout man who had lived by the commandments from his youth. But Jesus knew that he had this one thing that he loved even more.

What we don’t know but could possibly speculate is that if the man had agreed to give up his possessions, Jesus could very well have given them back to him (as God did with Isaac). Since he would have surrendered his riches as his own, Jesus could have used them through him in a totally different way, serving those on the margins that Jesus ministered to most often.

But we will never know. While Abraham passed his test of surrendering the thing most precious to him, the rich man did not, and he went away grieving.

As the son of a minister, there were some sermon illustrations that I heard anew in every church he served. One that I will never forget is the story of how they caught monkeys alive in the wild. As the story was told, they would take a dried gourd, cut a small hole in it, hang it from a tree, and then shake the dried seeds inside like a rattle. A monkey would come and reach inside to see what made the noise and grab the seeds. The monkey could not pull its clenched fist back through the hole, but its curiosity would not allow it to let go. The hunter could then just come fetch the monkey, trapped by its own stubbornness.

Are there things we cling to that need to be surrendered? Our resources, our time, our priorities? What could God do with them if we simply let them go and gave them back to God to be used as God saw fit? We may not be asked to give up a child or sell all that we have, but how much more good could God do with our treasures than we could imagine on our own! If only we would let go of them.

Father God, help us to see those things that we cling to so tightly and give us the will to surrender them to you. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Charlie Barton.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in...

Happiness is like the breezes that blow through the branches and leaves of the trees in the nearby mountains, but joy is the deepest roots of the oaks and hickories. In the Appalachian mountains, the trails and paths are seldom smooth or flat, leading us up hills and over rocky patches, past waterfalls and around boulders. The presence and nearness of God is felt in every step, no matter how challenging the trail becomes.

For all of us difficulties can arise more often than we would like. Our lives are a mix of ups and downs. Sometimes we may feel that joy has been completely swept away by loss, or by challenges with health or world events. We might wonder how long it will take for our hearts to be filled again with an abundance of joy and gratitude. But, like the presence of God, joy does surround us. The natural world blooms with it, people smile and hug with it, and music sings with it. God’s constant grace is fully present, and we are able to be uplifted in our most rocky times. We are reminded to deepen the practice of finding joy and hope in any situation, along with feeling thankful. The courage to lean into the bends in the trail comes with this deep strength and the knowing that God walks alongside us. We can expect mountaintop moments and miracles as a part of daily life.

Praying constantly or without ceasing seems like another challenge. Life can be so filled with work, important tasks, and appointments that formulating a prayer in the midst of these things feels overwhelming. Distractions happen often. We can’t always spend time in nature or in stillness or quietness. But since prayers can be said or thought in a microsecond, like “Help!”, “Thanks”, or “Bless” during our busiest times, they can then be expanded later when time allows. Prayers can even be wordless. They can be said with our eyes open or closed, from our hearts and minds, anywhere and anytime, connecting us to God in that moment.

With a mindset of deeply rooted joy, we can radiate it out as often as possible with friends, neighbors, strangers, and family, allowing this joy to keep expanding and growing. Happiness is also contagious. We do know that faith can move mountains, but it’s likely that joy can too.

Loving God, we offer you our full hearts of gratitude. Help our prayers to become more constant and our joy to radiate out to everyone we meet.

Amen.

This devotional was written by Jenny Green and read by Sally Stovall.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.