Lately I have allowed myself to get caught up in various things going on in my life. Some are necessities...some are requirements...some are both...some are neither. Do you get me or did I lose you?
One of the things that I have not spent near enough time doing is reading and meditating on the Word of God. Now some of you may immediately think I am saying that reading the Bible is something I feel required to do. You may think I am saying that I have this nagging guilt trip because I have not met up to the expectations that I feel are placed on me by my "religion". (If you have picked up anything from reading my blog, my faith is much deeper than "religion".) Though in some ways reading His Word is a requirement in the same way that spending time with your spouse or anyone else that you love is a requirement in order to get to know them better, I no longer view Bible reading as a requirement...at least not in a burdensome, expectation-placed-on-me aspect. I used to, and that's when my Christian experience seemed much more like a guilt-ridden, can-never-meet-up-to-everyone's-expectations time of life. What a freedom comes when you no longer see it that way!
No, I do not view it that way anymore. It's more like this...
When I do spend time reading His Word (that He specifically gave to those various inspired writers to pen, and that He has made sure to preserve for centuries so that you and I could continue to hear what He has to say and what He has done for us)...when I read His word, it is refreshing, renewing, inspiring, enlightening, intriguing, mind-blowing, mysterious-yet-very clear and alive, thought-provoking, humbling, comforting, encouraging, convicting, very on-point for the very moment I am reading a specific passage, historically educating and interesting, and, well, indescribeable!
So...was that enough adjectives for you!?! You see, if I was trying to fulfill a total-word-count requirement for a paper in school, I would have thrown tons of applicable but unnecessary adjectives in there. Because, let's face it...there's only so much you can say about "flying buttresses" and then you just have to fill in the rest of the space! (In case you're wondering, that's what my High School Senior English Term Paper was about! Why do I still remember that? How could you forget months of research and note cards on Gothic Architecture and Flying Buttresses...not to mention how difficult it was to try to make that all sound interesting in a High School Term Paper!)
Anyway, like I said, there are times when you have said all there really is to say and the adjectives are just unnecessary (but required) fillers. But, in this case, each of those adjectives is very true, very real, very necessary, and even still not enough to describe what reading His Word can be like. Go back and read them again and let each one sink in. Then, maybe you will understand why I say that reading His Word and spending time meditating on what He has to say through it is not really so much a requirement to me as it is truly a necessity!
Like a good drink of cold water on a hot Louisiana day or a piping hot cup of coffee or tea on a much-to-early and cold morning...time with Him, reading His word (even just a couple of verses) is truly a refreshing, comforting necessity of life...for me, at least.
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