![\"AWAKE_ADVENT_4\"](\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/AWAKE_ADVENT_4-214x300.jpg\")
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Ecclesiastes 3:1-15<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Question for reflection:<\/span> ~ Stanley J. Noffsinger, General Secretary<\/p>\n Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Advent Devotional <\/strong><\/span>written by Sandy Bosserman,\u00a0a former district executive and an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren. (Available from\u00a0Brethren Press<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>in print and E-Book formats). Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Sandy’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on t<\/em>his\u00a0<\/em>blog.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 Question for reflection: To \u201cfinish well\u201d implies a conscious decision to use the resources of our lives by offering the very best gifts and talents to glorify God in ministry and service to all people. What can you offer in the New Year that is the very best of who you are for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[54,382,451,492,842,849,1130,1214],"class_list":["post-3436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","tag-advent","tag-empower","tag-finish-well","tag-gifts","tag-offer","tag-open-our-eyes","tag-talents","tag-wisdom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong><\/span>To \u201cfinish well\u201d implies a conscious decision to use the resources of our lives by offering the very best gifts and talents to glorify God in ministry and service to all people. What can you offer in the New Year that is the very best of who you are for God\u2019s glory? Imagine how your life might add to the \u201cLife-Light\u201d of Christ. If there is a season for everything, what would keep you from sharing your best efforts for achieving Christ\u2019s peace right here and now?<\/p>\n
\nPrayer for the day:<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nGod,
\nWe stand at life\u2019s window, pondering last year\u2019s events. We are grateful for each breath; for each loved one near and far; and for your son, the Savior. We also wonder what else could have been done to bring about different outcomes for people enduring the troubled and violent situations here and around the world. Open our eyes and hearts God. We seek the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, so that we might be empowered to consistently offer the best our lives have to offer in ministry and service to all humankind and creation.
\nAMEN<\/p>\n