Devotion - Thursday, February 24

I am often invited to offer letters of recommendation for students applying for jobs or graduate studies. I am honored with each invitation and pleased to have the opportunity to reflect on the student, on our time together, and to celebrate the many gifts God has poured into their lives. The letter (or these days the on-line form) is not the "recommendation." The recommendation is the affirmation of my heart that here is a person whom God has enabled to do so many things.

II Corinthians 3 begins with Paul asking the reader, "Do we need letters of recommendation to you?" He then goes on to say, "you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."

I am also in a position to bear testimony to these letters - to the recommendations which are inscribed on your hearts, written by the Spirit of God. I not only get to observe your aptitude for excellence in the classroom, but more importantly how it is that your faith shines forth in your life. These are the letters of recommendation most precious to us and so essential to our lives.

Think of your own letter - for yourself or for others around you. What do the paragraphs contain? Identify the strengths; acknowledge the weaknesses. And remember that no one is selected to be a lone ranger, we all become members of a team. What are the traits, needed by your team members, in order for you to be prepared for whatever may come?

"You are a letter from Christ.... written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."