Today’s Reflection God is willing to split open the heavens to declare that we are God’s beloved children. God wants us to know we bring God much happiness. God calls us to live as people who are beloved. —Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019) Today’s Question How does understanding your belovedness compel you to help others recognize God’s love for them? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture And when J

Today’s Reflection I wondered what would take the place of all that anger. I invited the Spirit to come in and fill the space with love, joy, and peace. My prayer became, “Holy Spirit, grow love, joy, and peace in me.” —J. David Muyskens, Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer (Upper Room Books, 2006) Today’s Question Do you hold anger, fear, or resentment in your heart? Pray for the Holy Spirit to grow love, joy, and peace in their place so th

Today’s Reflection The more we practice stillness, the greater our ability to listen for and recognize God’s voice of reassurance and deep love in our lives. The more we recognize God’s naming us as beloved, the greater our ability to serve. —Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019) Today’s Question How are stillness and service both connected to hearing God’s voice? Today’s Scripture Then I heard the Lord’s v

Today’s Reflection When we believe that we are beloved and live as beloved people, we are healed. In turn, we can help others understand they are beloved; then they can be healed. And the world can be healed. —Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019) Today’s Question Where do you see a need for God’s healing? Today’s Scripture Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are m

Today’s Reflection The gospel demands that we examine our wealth. We will probably not come to perfect conclusions, and I encourage readers to hold their views tentatively and ask how wealth affects their connection to God, to their neighbors, and to themselves. —Elizabeth Mae Magill, When Did We See You? A Lenten Exploration of Poverty and Wealth (Upper Room Books, 2026) Today’s Question How does your wealth affect your connection to God, your neighbors, and yourself? How ca

Today’s Reflection When I finally heard—really understood—that God loves me, I needed time to process that message. Decades of pain, disbelief, anger, and baggage did not disappear in an instant. It took time to sit with the news of my belovedness. —Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019) Today’s Question What helps you live as someone who is beloved by God? Today’s Scripture So we have known and believe the

Today’s Reflection The spiritual life is, in part, about recovering our voice and returning to our truth. It’s a journey forward and a journey back: forward toward the voice of the One who made us, back to the truth that always has been in us. —Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019) Today’s Question What truth about God or yourself do you need to return to today? Today’s Scripture Lead me in your truth—teach

Today’s Reflection It was said of Abba John that when he went to church at Scetis, he heard some brothers arguing, so he returned to his cell. He went round it three times and then went in. Some brothers who had seen him wondered why he had done this, and they went to ask him. He said to them, “My ears were full of that argument, so I circled round in order to purify them, and thus I entered my cell with my mind at rest.” —Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe, The Upper Room Spir

Today’s Reflection A brother asked Abba Rufus, “What is interior peace, and what use is it?” The old man said, “Interior peace means to remain sitting in one’s cell with fear and knowledge of God, holding far off the remembrance of wrongs suffered and pride of spirit. Such interior peace brings forth all the virtues, preserves the monk from the burning darts of the enemy, and does not allow him to be wounded by them.” —Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe, The Upper Room Spiritua

Today’s Reflection God is bringing forth the kingdom of God not by our right utterances, but by our actions. What God and the world need are our loving, kind actions. Our living grace is what God can use to transform the world. —Caroline Vogel, As Yourself: The Sacred Work of Embodying Grace (Upper Room Books, 2026) Today’s Question Have you ever seen God use someone’s good actions to transform the world? What happened? . Today’s Scripture Which of these three, do you think,

Today’s Reflection As Christians, we have a variety of ways to address poverty. Engaging with Scripture and poverty during Lent, like you’re doing now, means we must also ask essential questions about the role we have in alleviating poverty. —Elizabeth Mae Magill, When Did We See You? A Lenten Exploration of Poverty and Wealth (Upper Room Books, 2026) Today’s Question What can you and your church do to help alleviate poverty in your community? Today’s Scripture Its rulers giv

Today’s Reflection We talk a lot in the church about loving God and loving our neighbors, but we do a horrendous job of learning and practicing what it really means to love ourselves. —Caroline Vogel, As Yourself: The Sacred Work of Embodying Grace (Upper Room Books, 2026) Today’s Question How do you balance loving God, your neighbors, and yourself? Which of these do you do the worst job of loving? Today’s Scripture You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and wi

Today’s Reflection Abba Zeno said, “If a man wants God to hear his prayer quickly, then before he prays for anything else, even his own soul, when he stands and stretches out his hands toward God, he must pray with all his heart for his enemies. Through this action God will hear everything that he asks.” —Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of the Desert Fathers & Mothers (Upper Room Books, 2017) Today’s Question How do you pray for

Today’s Reflection I encourage us to notice our own resistance to receiving help. We feel like we shouldn’t need it. We don’t want it. This scripture offers us the opportunity to acknowledge our needs and accept that God is calling us to let others provide for those needs. —Elizabeth Mae Magill, When Did We See You? A Lenten Exploration of Poverty and Wealth (Upper Room Books, 2026) Today’s Question Do you struggle to accept help from others? What is one thing you will ask fo

Today’s Reflection A soldier asked Abba Mius if God accepted repentance. After the old man had taught him many things, he said, “Tell me, my dear, if your cloak is torn, do you throw it away?” He replied, “No, I mend it and use it again.” The old man said to him, “If you are so careful about your cloak, will not God be equally careful about God’s creature?” —Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of the Desert Fathers & Mothers (Upper R

Today’s Reflection A brother at Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which Abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to say to him, “Come, for everyone is waiting for you.” So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug, filled it with water, and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said to him, “What is this, Father?” The old man said to them, “My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I

Today’s Reflection To everyone’s surprise, the judgment rests entirely on care for those who are poor, strangers, sick, and in prison. . . . These people in need are Jesus. Whatever we do for people in need, we do for Jesus. —Elizabeth Mae Magill, When Did We See You? A Lenten Exploration of Poverty and Wealth (Upper Room Books, 2026) Today’s Question What is one actionable step you can take to care for the least of these—for Jesus—this Lent? Join the conversation . Today’s S

Today’s Reflection What are the Christian obligations of those who are poor? Do we want to take on these obligations? How do our material possessions influence our closeness—or distance from—God? —Elizabeth Mae Magill, When Did We See You? A Lenten Exploration of Poverty and Wealth (Upper Room Books, 2026) Today’s Question How can you solidarity with the poor this Lent? How might the spiritual practices of fasting and asceticism bring you closer to God? Join the conversation

Today’s Reflection Of course, we can get stuck in the past, hanging on to old hurts and slights, old wounds and disappointments, abuses and disasters. The prophets want us to remember the faithfulness of God in the past but not to linger there. —Larry J. Peacock, The Living Nativity: Preparing for Christmas with Saint Francis (Upper Room Books, 2018) Today’s Question What do you need to let go of so that you can prepare for the new thing God is doing? Today’s Scripture See,

Today’s Reflection We often fall short because our new year intentions depend so much on our willpower and our efforts without being grounded on, rooted in, or supported by the pull and push of the Spirit. —Larry J. Peacock, The Living Nativity: Preparing for Christmas with Saint Francis (Upper Room Books, 2018) Today’s Question How are you inviting God to guide your intentions for the year ahead? Today’s Scripture Youths will become tired and weary, young men will certainly