A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to This Blog
Let me start off by saying I am having a few difficulties that until today didn't really hit me as anything more than annoyances. Today they hit me as possibly serious and something to look into.
Yesterday I was asked to lead the study I'm in on Tuesday nights. It is kind of a gentle push from God into some teaching opportunities. It's the direction I need to go, but one that I long felt I was not allowed to move in because of some bad decisions years ago and worse warnings from someone who really should have kept their opinion to themselves.
We are working our way through the book "The Good and Beautiful God" by James Bryan Smith. This week's chapter is "God is Love". I've had a hard time grasping that concept for a number of years for various reasons. I'm learning to see He is love and that He loves me. Tough to swallow sometimes, but incredibly true nonetheless.
As part of each chapter we do a bit of soul training. This week lead us into silent listening, reflecting ... for (gasp!) MINUTES! I'm talking a couple minutes here in little spurts. Not terribly painful, and certainly shouldn't be too difficult. Right?
Lectio divina is the name of the practice. It is a divine reading of scripture incorporating prayer and meditation on the Word. For this soul training, and since we are focused on the love of God, we used a portion of scripture from I Corinthians 13. I will be honest about having put this off for a week simply because that passage has been crammed down my throat concerning my former life as a married woman. Every Valentine's day someone whips it out and pounds and expounds on it ad nauseam. It's just mentally painful and draining.
Tonight (since I really need to be ready for tomorrow!) I set aside time for this training exercise. And of course, my mind wandered a bit.
First instruction is to sit quietly and breathe for one to two minutes. Thirty seconds in my mind is dictating an email for the health portal for my doctor about my symptoms and when they started and maybe we can try antibiotics first.
I stopped and scolded myself. And started over.
Two minutes down, I read the passage. Verses 4-8. You know the ones - "Love is patient. Love is kind..." I was pretty pleased to get to the end and not feel ill. Two parts of the mission accomplished.
Next is contemplating again. Then reading again, taking each piece and slowly reading until God uses a portion and brings it to your attention. He did that. I'm not going to tell you what part, or the message I feel is for me. After all, it is for me. He may have another message for you and I wouldn't want to impede His progress.
You know, it felt good, this soul training. As part of our lesson tomorrow we are to do this as a group, meditating on a different scripture passage. Our pastor lead our faith community in doing this one Sunday several months ago. At the time, knowing he was doing this study, I thought the passage he used for us was the one from the book. Not so. It was beautifully orchestrated by God as a passage from the book of John that we were working our way through. It gave me insight into what God wanted me to see Him as and what He wants to be for me. Building blocks to a new relationship seen through clear eyes, instead of eyes clouded by circumstances.
I will end with a request. Give this a try. (Trying not to compose emails during contemplation, please!) Here is a link to some instruction provided on BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/09/lectio-divina-divine-reading/
Please give it a try. And if you're so inclined, send me an email or comment on Facebook to let me know what you learn and how it goes. I want to see us grow together!
