(Flattering and sophisticated we are)
We went to Lake Pleasant today. If I'm going to be sleep deprived on Spring Break with two coughing kids I mind as well take them out into the sunny spring desert. It's better than being trapped in a house of germs. We looked for geodes. We found a piece of one actually. I'm catching Ryland's rock hounding fever.
On the way to the lake I played a podcast from John Piper. I enjoy listening to him teach. I never finish listening without feeling as though I've had a chiropractic adjustment of my thinking or a surgical removal of dangerous-thought cells. His message was about letting the authority of God's word be functional in your writing and talking. It was powerful!
I don't post as many "meditations" as I used to here. This blog has sort of morphed into a online journal about all sorts of things. Even still, I do write about Christ and God's story and His word. Looking back I've often gone off course from true Word when sharing my meditations. When I read that passage in Psalms where the Lord says, "Don't be like a stubborn mule that I have to put a bit and bridle on so it will obey." I realize I've been an ass many times. I've got the bit and bridle to prove it.
I was convicted, as I often am at church, of my self-centered myopia when it comes to expounding on God's word, whether in a Bible study, or Sunday School lesson, or talking with my kids, or writing a blog... even in my thinking. It's not about me. It's not about us. It's about Him. His glory. His beautiful nature and plan. His salvation. His mercy. His grace. His truth. His judgment. His holiness. His love.
I was so convicted, I decided to put it in the signature that automatically pops up with every post:
2 Questions when it comes to God-thoughts, or meditations I've written: Is there a passage in the Bible that confirms what I've written? Is there a passage in the Bible that sounds contrary to what I've written?
Every time I write, I'll see the two questions and I can stop and run what I've written past the authority of God's word first.
It was beautiful out there in the desert today. Spring in the desert is a parable to me. God grows beauty and life out of dry, desolate thorns and rocks. Amazing. As the kids and I were walking back to the car, surrounded by gold, purple and green painted flowers I asked them, "What is the purpose of these flowers out here in the middle of nowhere? What are they here for?" Connor answered, "Beauty."
Yes! "Yes!" I said, "Yes! Beauty. They simply here to be beautiful. To speak of just a tiny flash of God's beauty. God is beautiful!"
"One thing I have asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple." -Psalm 27:4
Quieted,
Sheila
