Our latest gift from a friend is a small freezer. She had bought this from a friend moving and I'd told her how awesome that was and that some day I was hoping to get one. Now, some two months later, she told me the Lover told her to give the freezer to me, that they hadn't even turned it on and were needing the space it was taking up! We love it already. I try to keep a record of all the gifts, whether of finances or of items so that we can continue to remember and give thanks for the Lover's goodness and provision for us.
I'm slowly starting to shed some of the layers of religion in me thanks to the Lover's gentle wooing. Growing up in the CoC, reading the Bible was very important and while I still believe it is important and can breathe sweet life into my being and challenge and write on my heart, it can also be a very religious habit or even worse, people can use it and never know the Lover through their readings, studying and memorizing. I have spent a lot of years in fruitless reading. Sometimes not even registering a thing I've read, but getting that chapter done a day. If I don't read a significant amount in a day, I feel guilty. If I read a small piece and try to really digest it, I feel guilty still.
Lately the Lover keeps saying over and over to me: I'm more than a book. I'm learning to hear his voice in places I'd never looked before. I've had some of my most powerful worship will watching a kid's nature video and feeling swept over in the love of the creator. It seems sac religious, but I've had novels speak to my heart just as much as the Bible at times. I've heard someone joke that the Lover spoke through thousands of years, than wrote a book and lost his voice. It's a danger to elevate words and not find the Word, the life giver in them. It's also been so freeing and real and natural to hear him in so many other venues, in the splash of sunshine on my daughter's shimmering body as she plays in the pool, in the beauty of a lake, in laughter, in moments that seem somehow orchestrated in the heavenlies, in words that pierce my heart, whether they be in the book, a book, a voice within, or from a friend or enemy. He speaks still and I'm so thankful he is more than a book.
2 comments:
I couldn't agree more! What you have said about other writings is not sacrilegious! Even the Bible says to look around us--Paul told the Greeks--"For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'" Ancient Greek Poets! And this is my favourite for having eyes open to see His work: Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
I have often fell into the trap of guilt and obligation. And sometimes there is something to the idea of doing what you "should" before the feeling and the right motives show up in the act. Still loving Him is about being freed of guilt.
Lil' Sis
Agent wife, that was beautifully expressed. I think far too many evangelicals elevate the word of God above the Word of God, Jesus Himself. For years I read my Bible out of guilt & obligation, & sometimes out of excitement & joy, and today I suppose I should read it more. But I'd rather chew on a sentence or two and be inspired, than reading a whole chapter hurriedly, to fulfill my daily quota. Like you, I am seeing His wonder, His words, & His voice all around me. It truly fills me up.
Blessings to you...
Post a Comment