For Me?

My church is doing a study for Lent - 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  The devotional part is quick and easy - just a paragraph to read, a Bible verse and a Psalm typically.  However there are thought provoking questions and journaling suggestions at the end of each day's reading.   I'd like to say I will journal each day of Lent, but I've already missed that goal.

The last two days of reading have had heavy emphasis on prayer.  I have felt for some time that my prayer life was lacking.  Perhaps it is because I wait until the end of the day to attempt prayer and before I finish, I'm almost always asleep.  The author here encourages prayer to be a morning ritual, gives the example of Christ praying first thing in the morning and goes as far as to say that morning prayer is "decisive for the day".  He says it helps with the ordering and scheduling of our day.  I must admit that intrigues me!  I'm most often running about with no idea what's next and that means neglect of thing that I need to get done.  But when I read prayer is "decisive for the day" I also see it as seeking God first - it's a choice, a decision we make - to pray.  If we decide to consult with God first, it only makes sense that our decisions throughout the day should also have God in mind.

Bonhoeffer also says that we are to read the word of God as God's word for us, individually - not consulting others regarding what scripture says to them, but reading each passage as if it were written strictly for ourselves, talking with God about our interpretation and not doubting that is the message God meant just for us.  I guess that is the mystery of God, the mystery of the Bible.  That it CAN mean different things to different people yet still be relevant in our lives.  Just because we believe the Bible is divinely inspired by God does not mean that it has to be a literal, black & white translation!  Who could we really trust to provide that translation if that were the case?

I will go out on a limb and say that in reading scripture, we can safely declare that an area where we are allowed to be a bit ego-centric.  As for my personal relationship with God, His word is really ALL ABOUT ME!  I gotta admit, I kinda like that!  I've always had this sort of fantasy in the back of my mind that some day, some man would have written a volume of love letters to me or kept a journal about me or something else poetic and lovely that I would come across.  Dreams DO come true because it was all written thousands of years ago  - and really, JUST FOR ME.  And you have one too!  You have your own book of love letters from that guy.....  that guy who loves you like no other.   It's pretty great to realize that happily ever after is not a myth, it just comes in different form than we are humanly taught.

And that's kind of what Lent really is.  It's a 40 day discovery of all the ways God loves us.  Enjoy your journey!