I am in the midst of processing all that went through my mind and heart over the last two months while I was on sabbatical. Hopefully this exercise in reflection will help me flesh things out a little bit better.
Lesson Six
The Word of God will transform.
I guess I started really reading the Bible when I was in college. I knew the big stories before, I am a Catholic school kid who had theology classes for 13 years. But I never read it for me, until I was at North Texas State.
When I first became a youth minster, someone gave me one of those little books that give different verses for every time, trouble or place. And that is how I began to use the Bible. A little here, a little there, a verse to mend a scraped up knee.
Then I met Brother Ted. I looked up to Brother Ted. I saw the way that he walked with God, and I wanted to walk like that too. Ted was all about the Scriptures. Every time I would meet with him, he would encourage, prod and plead for me to read the Scriptures. So I did. Cover to cover. Numerous times. Even read commentaries. I even taught bible lessons.
In the last few years, as I began to learn about story, I began to look at the Scriptures differently. I began to see how they were set up in a certain way, how the characters were developed, their tragic flaws, their heroic over comings. I began to appreciate it as literature. As a way of describing who God was, and His love for us.
But it wasn't until I had this time, this time where I scheduled in an hour a day just to be with the Word, that I found out how it could transform. As I would take my little bit each day and just mull over it, repeat it, reread it and break it down, I found myself falling in love with it. I began to see things with fresh eyes. Not just the stories and the words, but how it became part of me and colored how I saw the "real" world. I found myself recalling tidbits here and there at the gym, at Starbucks, as I played with Ursula, and as I was watching tv. It consumed me, in a very good way.
My takeaway? I don't have an hour a day scheduled any more, but I do have time scheduled to just be with a small bit of Scripture. My phone sends me push notices, and I have it at my finger tips. It is a transforming way to begin my day.
1 comment:
What a rich blessing to receive during your time of re-fresh-ment! Bravo! So many times we take for granted that what we have read in scripture still has the same meaning several years later. Since I began visiting every couple of months with a spiritual director, I find that sometimes a couple of words or a phrase just lingers in my mind & heart for days, renewing my spirit.
B.E.T.T.Y.
Post a Comment