Devotions based on James Smith’s book, The Good and Beautiful Community

How do we keep a balance between spending time with God and caring for others? The author suggests spending 2 hours focused on God and 4 intentional acts for others. ( 2 by 4)  The time spent with God could be intentional as we go to church for an hour but going with a sense that we are meeting God. Or it could be spent in being quiet before Him, or thanking Him as we list our blessings, or reading the Word reflectively, or just listening, or journaling etc. But also let us go on to do unselfish acts of kindness and generosity. Think, what can we do for others starting with little things ( like taking someone’s tray back in the cafeteria) to bigger things like helping someone move?  Be creative! How about letting someone go ahead of us in line? Or simply spending time listening to someone?  The author suggests doing  4 acts of kindness this week, remembering that we are a citizen of another world!  Let us stay balanced between time spent with Him and giving ourselves unselfishly to others!