Growing up as a middle school and high school student at St. Luke’s, one of my favorite events we did every year was our Youth Force mission trip. Every evening after we were finished working on our houses we would come back to the host church and have worship together. As part of the worship service we would take time to do our “God sightings”. Basically, we had some huge bedsheets that would be spread out around the room and we would use permanent markers to write on them. We would write each day about how we had seen God at work that day, and by the end of the week these bedsheets would be full of the ways people had seen God working. It was such a powerful visual by the end of the week to step back and reflect on all that God had been doing.
Sometimes we can become so inundated with negative news, crises in our own lives, health issues, problems in relationships, or issues at work that we have trouble seeing the positive things going on. In these moments I find it helpful to step back and make a conscious effort to reflect on my “God sightings”. Where have I seen God at work in the world or in my own life?
Our social media feeds are already filled with enough negativity right now. We’re seeing everything from political bickering at the state and federal levels, to racism, to divisiveness over how professional athletes should act during the national anthem, to shootings, to a myriad of other issues. Rather than continuing to fill up other people’s newsfeeds with more negativity, let’s try to spread some hope and some God sightings on this Casual Friday!
I want to encourage you to comment below with your own God sightings. Where have you seen God at work in the world or in your own life this week? Then, I want to encourage you to either share this post or write your own post encouraging others to do the same. We may not be able to change all the negative news, but we can add some positive news to the mix!
