Monday thoughts <3
As I sit here on a gray and overcast Monday morning, I have several thoughts on my mind so I am just sharing those to kick off the week.
Bless your heart if you stick around and read them…
First off, our church is doing a six week sermon series based on the book of Hebrews and one of our pastors has developed a study guide for us to use to enhance our learning.
I worked on mine this morning and I can’t emphasize enough the value of writing out Scripture.
It can seem pointless in this digital age, but there is a deep transaction that takes place when we take the time and make the effort to copy the words down in our own handwriting and then look over what we have written.
When we are asked to then put it in our own words, this too is a work that requires effort and a deeper level of thinking than just spitting back out what we read.
It works a spiritual and mental muscle group that can grow weak and lazy in this age of information overload.
Instead of letting someone else tell you what it means, it forces you to …gasp….THINK and APPLY what you have read.
An example from my journaling time this morning is this:
We were asked to think about what it means to us that Jesus became one of us and also what it will be like to share in His glory one day.
Here is my response:
“As I contemplate these questions, I think in this moment of this morning that I was given an understanding as a child that He loved and cared for me and understood my struggles. While there have been seasons when I did cry out “Unfair!” and question if He knew what it felt like to be me in a setting, if He really understood how much something was hurting me, I have always received a quick check in my spirit reminding me that YES! He DOES know and understand ….that He took on all of my humanity AND all of ALL humanity’s struggles and sins in a real and personal way.
To think of sharing His glory? This is a complex thought process for me. I have such a small and narrow view of Glory and the Glory of God. I downsize it to what I can comprehend of earthly glory. I minimize what God is promising to us and the gracious and great gift it is to us. I trade what is outside my understanding for what I can see, touch, feel…and it breaks me to know how little I regard the magnitude of His love for me.”
Laura Reimer
Was that easy? No
Did I grow up a little bit more today in my faith? Yes
I hope you will take some time each day or as often as your schedule allows you to pick up pen and paper and do the work of study.
Which leads me to my two other points to share today…
The Kelly Minter No Other Gods online study starts tomorrow!!!!
Here is a copy and paste with information about how to do the study that I got from the website:
Here is the main difference with onlinestudy.smallgroup.com: you’ll need to log in.* We know passwords are not fun, but we have good reasons! Because you’ll be logging in, you’ll have the ability to track your personal progress as you study and see which sessions you’ve watched! And, you’ll be the first one to know about future online Bible studies.
https://blog.lifeway.com/womenallaccess/2019/05/21/announcing-the-no-other-gods-online-bible-study-sign-up/
*If you’ve ever purchased something on LifeWay.com, you should have created a LifeWay Account. That is the email and password you’ll want to use to log in. If you no longer use the email you originally set up as your LifeWay Account, feel free to click “Register” to create a new account. This email is where you’ll also receive email notifications to remind you that the newest session is now available to watch, so be sure you select one where you’d like to be receiving emails!The rest of the details you’ll need to participate in this study:
No Other Gods is 8 weeks long, starting June 18 and ending August 6. You’ll get to watch the full video teaching for free for a limited time!**
You’ll need to grab a copy of theNo Other Gods study book. If you have the older copy of this study, we recommend purchasing the revised and updated version to best follow along! (Friends outside the U.S., check out this list of online retailers around the world.)
We’ll post a new video session on onlinestudy.smallgroup.com on Tuesdays at 5 a.m. CT (barring any technical difficulties). Once you log in, you will see the available sessions.
For the first week, you’ll watch the video on June 18 first and then complete the Session 2 material in the study book before we meet again!
Go to your email and add “churchresources@email1.lifeway.com” to your contacts. This way, our emails are less likely to go to your spam folder.
The first video session is about 10 minutes long, but you can plan for the rest of the videos to be 25-35 minutes long.
And FAQ’s…no I have not received any email accept the very first one.
No, we are not doing a formal discussion group anywhere – just do your study and watch the videos and I will share probably once a week from my own study and would love to hear any thoughts you have – MARK YOUR COMMENT AS OK TO SHARE OR JUST FOR ME so I don’t post something I shouldn’t.
AND…
my last thought for the day.
This summer is ridiculous.
The weather is insane – rainy and cold followed by hot and humid, all in the same 12 hour span.
Our calendar is so jam-packed there is no white space.
I have several different writing projects going on in my head, laundry piling up faster than the dust around it and stress that is laughing in the face of the whole “lazy days of summer” tune I had planned to hum.
So I am sharing my coping strategy in case you are in the same float boat of overcommitment.
I am taking a big piece of paper and drawing out June and July.
I am filling in all the things that are already scheduled and then I am going to make a big outline around any white space so that I can see visually that it does exist.
Then I am going to attempt to live intentionally in the white spaces and not waste them.
I have to do this because I am such an odd mix of rebel and rule follower that if my unscheduled times do not fall in the normal range of the 8-5 work hours, I basically fritter away time I could have used to do things I was complaining about not having time for earlier in the day.
Wish me luck…pray for me…encourage me when you see me…I am a work in progress.
Now to get busy and be productive and I will see you tomorrow <3