On the Journey
By Rick Hamlin

January 2010

On Your Feet
January 25, 2010
We were at a rock concert and I was asking myself, “Why are we supposed to stand when we pray?”

First of all, the question. At our church, sometimes we sit when we pray but often we’re expected to stand. That morning, when we did, I wondered if there was a reason for it. Did it help a person get in touch with God?

The question was still in the back of my mind at the rock concert. I have to confess the concert was Carol’s idea. The band is one of her favorites and they were playing at a theater 10 blocks from us. How could we not go?
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Joy Comes in the Morning
January 19, 2010
I was reading a psalm on the way to work. Psalm 30. It’s got some great lines in it, one of my favorite, “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” I thought about how wonderful that was, that the tough stuff only lasts for a while.
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Recycling
January 11, 2010
In some countries people throw out old pots and pans on New Year’s Eve to get ready for the new. In our neighborhood it was the “Second Annual Electronics Recycling Event.”

Who knew there was such a thing? Carol had spotted this one coming weeks in advance. An environmental group had commandeered a corner of the park for Saturday morning and we were invited to bring our gold, frankincense and myrrh…and all those electronic things in the house that we didn’t need anymore but couldn’t throw away.
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Getting Rid of the Tree
January 4, 2010
My least favorite task in the New Year? Taking down the Christmas tree.

Some people like to leave it up for weeks, admiring it, remembering the fun they had around it, letting it rain a torrent of dead needles on the rug until they finally cart it out.
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Rick Hamlin is the executive editor of Guideposts magazine. His regular prayer habit is a psalm a day and some meditation on his commute to work, which happens to be a New York subway train.