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Diligent

One of my favorite words in scripture is diligent. It originates from the Latin, diligere, which has evolved to mean “showing steady and careful effort.” This story demonstrates the need for diligence.

It had been a particularly hectic three days. It was my first experience in New York City. I had flown with 95 other people into Newark, New Jersey to begin a two-week cruise and tour of New England and Canada. My job was to help lead the tour and serve as the teacher.

On Saturday we toured New York City with our group, taking in downtown Manhattan, the Liberty Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and Battery Park. For those who have never experienced the culture of downtown New York, it is like a journey to a foreign country—they really do things differently there.

At the end of that day, we returned to our hotel filled and exhausted at the same time. The next day we were up early and headed for the ship. By the end of that second day we had everyone onboard, no one overboard, and all settled in their staterooms.

Being a Sunday night, there were those who wanted to have a Church service. The ship graciously allowed us the use of a comfortable conference room. At the appointed hour our group came, quietly took a seat, and waited to see what would happen. They were all, more or less, strangers and a little timid. Moreover, notwithstanding they were from many different denominations, this was a far cry from the worship environment any of them were accustomed to.

The agenda was announced, and they began to sing the hymn, Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me. Oh, and did they sing. Of course there was no piano, but the power of their voices and their natural harmony was beautiful, and it washed over me like a flood. I stopped singing just to listen to them. I felt a palpable sensation of warmth come over me and a lifting of the weight of all the stresses and worries of the previous three days. I was renewed and ever so grateful to them.

A week later, near Prince Edward Island, we held another such service in that room and it was even more powerful. They were no longer strangers.

That experience caused me to reflect. Just as the sun sets slowly and the campfire cools slowly, so too, gradually, had the light and warmth of the Lord’s presence dimmed within me. The stresses of my work had overpowered and extinguished that light so imperceptibly that I did not even realize what I had lost until I found it again.

I believe it is the same for all of us who, for whatever reason, take a vacation of any length from God. The fire cools! That is precisely why the Almighty invites us into His presence, every day in prayer and every week in Church— to keep the fires of faith lit. Diligent means we persistently show up in doing our duty.