Jan1- Gen 1-3; 2nd -Gen 4-7, 3rd - Gen 8-11, 4th Gen 12-15, 5th Gen16-18, Gen 19-21, 6th- Gen22-24, 7th - Gen 22-24
I'm so excited about spending this year in pursuit of a Life lived consciously in His presence! I always love starting the year off in Genesis - It's where God started everything - and Adam made a mess of it. I'm reading the Henry Morris Study Bible this year (I read a different version every year) and, if you don't know who he was, he's the one who started the Creation Institute, which uses top notch scientists to study God's creation and refute evolution. It's a fascinating site http://www.icr.org/ at any rate, I'm already learning new stuff about God's amazing mind, which, really, is what the Genesis story is about. What an amazing mind He has, to think of setting up a universe as vast as ours with its own laws and maxims, made out of mostly.....nothing. That chair you are sitting on has more empty space than atoms in it. How amazing He is! Then He spoke the world into creation. All the flora and fauna : He just spoke - and they were created.
Ohhhhh but then, He came to the creation of mankind. Creating us was the only thing the Word says was hand-crafted, and the Bible tells us we are His poema, His poem or work of art. That's how He sees us - each of us individually created by Hand, our days written down before one of them had come into existence, He knew us as the twinkle in Dad's eye and watched each division of cells as they occurred until - Poof! - there you were; there I was : God's masterpiece,
One of the things I'm focusing on this year of L'Chaim is to read, understand and meditate on what He says, what His opinion of me is.. As in "God's masterpiece." I can safely say I have never looked at myself that way! Why is that? Why do we let God's vision of us get smudged and spit on until we are the evil one's picture of life instead of the Living God's picture of la Chaim! I'm going to try to be true to God's definitions and values regarding me, not that fallen angel's view.
So, what does that look like, a masterpiece, a poem? Well for a calligrapher, it means creating something with elegant beauty, something that suggests to the viewer that much time and care went into its creation - the time, the practiced hand, the careful choice of copperplate or Old English or contemporary forms, the introduction of colors and attributes that blend and beautify. It means something that is valued highly, if in no else's eyes but the one who did the creating.
That's a pretty awesome train of thought, considering Who did the creating of us!
And it leads me to the conclusion that He is not some far off God Who watches me from a distance, waiting to see what I become - He's known from the second I was conceived in His thoughts what and who I would become. And it has been hands on, all the way! The people He brought into my life, the ones He wove into my heart to lead me, step-by-step back into His arms and finally to move me to enter in, to be safe in Him, to be part of His bride.
It's a little bit like a living Hallmark card - He cared enough to send the very best.
Which leads me to recognize that my CI (chronic illness) did not happen accidentally, for there is not one thing that could change the events with which He chose to surround me. And to someone in pain, that brings up cosmic questions.
I think one of them was answered profoundly when the apostles asked Him why the man had been born blind - did his parents sin, or did the baby sin in the womb (a popular concept in that day.) Jesus answered "Neither." He was born blind so that God could be glorified.
Think of the honor of that!! For those of us who are chronically ill, in pain or overcome by depression or some unending accompaniment to every breath, it is a whole new way to see. (curing our own blindness!) We did not sin in the womb - or cause this to come upon ourselves - this, too, was part of God's hand-fashioned plan for our lives. And with it ("should you choose to accept it") is a paradigm shift in moving from "disabled" to "displaying the glory of God". To think that our illnesses may contribute to His glory is an enormous opportunity to make an attitude adjustment. It means, in essence, that people are not amazed at us ( how we are struggling to implement a yellow brick road mindless happiness in our flesh) but that people do not even see that "us" part anymore. They simply look at us and know we couldn't possibly carry this alone and they note that Someone Else is the One doing the carrying - even when pain and disability is very evident. Something we see akin to a curse (and surely part of the evil one's handiwork) has been remade by the touch of a Loving Hand into something that magnifies His glory. Which brings up the question of how, then, should we live?
I had never looked at my illness in that way - there is something about not being strong enough to endure, to do things you must do - and watching someone else have to do it for you. That really attacks the pride in us that wants to take over and have people see how wonderful I am. It also makes me feel guilty that I'm not "doing my part.". It humbles me - and humility is a favorite characteristic that God desires for His children. To me it tastes like bleech in my mouth; but it makes His heart dance to see it.
Hence, He is glorified. Now then, aren't all you able bodied people jealous? Nanner nanner nanner!
Soooo, starting off the year learning that I am capable of giving glory to my Creator in special way feels pretty cool to me. I'm looking fwd to what else He has to share with me - and those of you who have chosen to accompany me!Ohhhhh but then, He came to the creation of mankind. Creating us was the only thing the Word says was hand-crafted, and the Bible tells us we are His poema, His poem or work of art. That's how He sees us - each of us individually created by Hand, our days written down before one of them had come into existence, He knew us as the twinkle in Dad's eye and watched each division of cells as they occurred until - Poof! - there you were; there I was : God's masterpiece,
One of the things I'm focusing on this year of L'Chaim is to read, understand and meditate on what He says, what His opinion of me is.. As in "God's masterpiece." I can safely say I have never looked at myself that way! Why is that? Why do we let God's vision of us get smudged and spit on until we are the evil one's picture of life instead of the Living God's picture of la Chaim! I'm going to try to be true to God's definitions and values regarding me, not that fallen angel's view.
So, what does that look like, a masterpiece, a poem? Well for a calligrapher, it means creating something with elegant beauty, something that suggests to the viewer that much time and care went into its creation - the time, the practiced hand, the careful choice of copperplate or Old English or contemporary forms, the introduction of colors and attributes that blend and beautify. It means something that is valued highly, if in no else's eyes but the one who did the creating.
That's a pretty awesome train of thought, considering Who did the creating of us!
And it leads me to the conclusion that He is not some far off God Who watches me from a distance, waiting to see what I become - He's known from the second I was conceived in His thoughts what and who I would become. And it has been hands on, all the way! The people He brought into my life, the ones He wove into my heart to lead me, step-by-step back into His arms and finally to move me to enter in, to be safe in Him, to be part of His bride.
It's a little bit like a living Hallmark card - He cared enough to send the very best.
Which leads me to recognize that my CI (chronic illness) did not happen accidentally, for there is not one thing that could change the events with which He chose to surround me. And to someone in pain, that brings up cosmic questions.
I think one of them was answered profoundly when the apostles asked Him why the man had been born blind - did his parents sin, or did the baby sin in the womb (a popular concept in that day.) Jesus answered "Neither." He was born blind so that God could be glorified.
Think of the honor of that!! For those of us who are chronically ill, in pain or overcome by depression or some unending accompaniment to every breath, it is a whole new way to see. (curing our own blindness!) We did not sin in the womb - or cause this to come upon ourselves - this, too, was part of God's hand-fashioned plan for our lives. And with it ("should you choose to accept it") is a paradigm shift in moving from "disabled" to "displaying the glory of God". To think that our illnesses may contribute to His glory is an enormous opportunity to make an attitude adjustment. It means, in essence, that people are not amazed at us ( how we are struggling to implement a yellow brick road mindless happiness in our flesh) but that people do not even see that "us" part anymore. They simply look at us and know we couldn't possibly carry this alone and they note that Someone Else is the One doing the carrying - even when pain and disability is very evident. Something we see akin to a curse (and surely part of the evil one's handiwork) has been remade by the touch of a Loving Hand into something that magnifies His glory. Which brings up the question of how, then, should we live?
I had never looked at my illness in that way - there is something about not being strong enough to endure, to do things you must do - and watching someone else have to do it for you. That really attacks the pride in us that wants to take over and have people see how wonderful I am. It also makes me feel guilty that I'm not "doing my part.". It humbles me - and humility is a favorite characteristic that God desires for His children. To me it tastes like bleech in my mouth; but it makes His heart dance to see it.
Hence, He is glorified. Now then, aren't all you able bodied people jealous? Nanner nanner nanner!
Please feel free to comment on anything you wish - to share what God is teaching you in all this
And thanks for coming along - it's not so lonely now!
1 comment:
La Chaim AND nanner nanner nanner in the same post -- Wow! Great thoughts for the new year!
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