This chapter of the Bible isn't one that is riveting for me, I have to be honest. It is basically a genealogical listing of Noah's sons and their sons. What was interesting for me in this chapter was to see what "nations" came from each of the sons. That is one of the reasons that I love the footnotes in my Bible. I feel like I learn so much more and it really helps me to want to get into the Word that much more. Even what previously might have seemed like a boring chapter to me had some meaning when I saw that these guys were the "fathers of all nations."
Noah had three sons that are listed here: Japheth, Shem and Ham. They were the fathers of the various Biblical nations.
From Japheth came the Greeks, Thracians, and Scythians. From Shem came the Hebrews, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Persians, and Syrians. From Ham came the Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, Hittites, and Amorites.
What is even more interesting to me is that they all started out from three men, yet eventually these "nations" end up warring with one another, just as we all do now, and essentially, we all originate from these three guys too. It makes me really think about the fact that I can't look down on anyone else because of where they are from or who their descendents are. I don't really do that anyway, but it just reminds me that much more that I need to care for everyone, not just those that it is easy to care for.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Genesis 9
I missed a few days of reading. I thought about trying to catch up by doing several chapters in one day, but when I do that, it really takes the joy out of the process and makes it feel like a chore, so I thought I would just pick up where I left off. Last night I read Genesis chapter 9. I asked my husband if I could read it to him as we were going to bed. I wanted to hear his thoughts. He really just wanted to sleep, but as always, he is a trooper, and once I finished we ended up having a great conversation about not only that chapter, but a few others. I love him...he is so intelligent, and conversations like that with him always really make me think.
Genesis 9 revolves around God commanding Noah and his sons to repopulate the Earth, and talks a bit about the different nations that descended from Noah's sons. This time I didn't necessarily identify with just one verse, but rather the chapter as a whole.
It amazes me to think of stepping off of that boat and having NO. ONE. ELSE. AROUND. Just you, your wife, your sons and their wives. That's it. In today's age it is seen as wrong to marry within your own family. People do it, but it can cause all sorts of genetic problems with the children you may have. I guess that is probably why it is tough to think about coming off that boat and having that command to "repopulate the Earth." Kev and I had quite a discussion about all of this. We also discussed the flood and what that really looked like and even the question of is this story of the Bible central to our faith.
What it came down to for me was yes. Yes it is central to our faith. I think it all is. I can't say that part of the Bible is important and part of it isn't. I need to figure this all out. I need to figure out how I am going to interpret what I am reading and when I have questions, I need to find someone that I can talk to about those questions.
Ultimately, this chapter, reading it with Kevin, and the discussion that followed just served to make me that much more excited about this journey. I feel like I am seeing God's Word through new eyes, not just my own, but also through the eyes of maybe someone that does NOT believe as I do, and to think about how to discuss it with someone like that. It makes me hunger and thirst to read and to know more. I am loving it, wholly and completely!
Genesis 9 revolves around God commanding Noah and his sons to repopulate the Earth, and talks a bit about the different nations that descended from Noah's sons. This time I didn't necessarily identify with just one verse, but rather the chapter as a whole.
It amazes me to think of stepping off of that boat and having NO. ONE. ELSE. AROUND. Just you, your wife, your sons and their wives. That's it. In today's age it is seen as wrong to marry within your own family. People do it, but it can cause all sorts of genetic problems with the children you may have. I guess that is probably why it is tough to think about coming off that boat and having that command to "repopulate the Earth." Kev and I had quite a discussion about all of this. We also discussed the flood and what that really looked like and even the question of is this story of the Bible central to our faith.
What it came down to for me was yes. Yes it is central to our faith. I think it all is. I can't say that part of the Bible is important and part of it isn't. I need to figure this all out. I need to figure out how I am going to interpret what I am reading and when I have questions, I need to find someone that I can talk to about those questions.
Ultimately, this chapter, reading it with Kevin, and the discussion that followed just served to make me that much more excited about this journey. I feel like I am seeing God's Word through new eyes, not just my own, but also through the eyes of maybe someone that does NOT believe as I do, and to think about how to discuss it with someone like that. It makes me hunger and thirst to read and to know more. I am loving it, wholly and completely!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Genesis 7 & 8
Today I had a little extra time-the wee one was sleeping-and the chapters were short, as well as compelling, so I read two. These chapters are about the great flood and Noah. I have always loved and been amazed by that story in the Bible, and now as an adult, I even contemplate them in a different way.
Verse #1: Genesis 7:15 "Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark."
I love this verse. I totally love it. I look at it and read it and think of many things. First, I think whoah! What must that have been like? Can you just IMAGINE it? I mean think about these animals, all of these animals, two of each, coming to the ark. Just sauntering up like, "Hey, I'm ready to go, can I get on the boat now?" I think that is how it happened because it says they came to Noah. God did this, he commanded them and they just came! That is crazy! Also, I am amazed at Noah again. He didn't worry about it like, how am I going to get all of these animals here? He just focused on his job, which was to build the ark, and trusted God to get the rest accomplished. I can learn a lot from that. I am a details girl and often when I am in the midst of things I get all caught up in trying to figure every single thing out by myself. I forget the bigger picture or what perhaps God is asking me to do and lose my focus because I am thinking about the other details that God can take care of better than I can. I need to leave those up to HIM!
Verse #2: Genesis 8:18 "So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives."
Why is this verse important to me? It is because of what I read in all of the verses preceding it. It was a lonnnng wait. They were there in this ark for over a year, when it was all said and done. This wasn't a luxury cruise ship. It was full of animals, and I am sure that the smell was probably pretty awful. They probably had a lot of the same kinds of food, they probably got a little tired of each other, but Noah waited. He waited until GOD told him it was ok and THEN he came out. What I learn from this is that sometimes life is tough. Sometimes it is a long haul and you feel like you are surrounded by stinking animal poo, but you have to wait. You have to wait and listen to God and wait for his command and what he wants to do and when he wants to bring you out of the ark. God was keeping Noah and his family in the ark for their own good, he knew that it wasn't safe and ready for them yet, and Noah and his family trusted God. I have to wait. I have to learn to deal with the poo and just wait.
Verse #1: Genesis 7:15 "Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark."
I love this verse. I totally love it. I look at it and read it and think of many things. First, I think whoah! What must that have been like? Can you just IMAGINE it? I mean think about these animals, all of these animals, two of each, coming to the ark. Just sauntering up like, "Hey, I'm ready to go, can I get on the boat now?" I think that is how it happened because it says they came to Noah. God did this, he commanded them and they just came! That is crazy! Also, I am amazed at Noah again. He didn't worry about it like, how am I going to get all of these animals here? He just focused on his job, which was to build the ark, and trusted God to get the rest accomplished. I can learn a lot from that. I am a details girl and often when I am in the midst of things I get all caught up in trying to figure every single thing out by myself. I forget the bigger picture or what perhaps God is asking me to do and lose my focus because I am thinking about the other details that God can take care of better than I can. I need to leave those up to HIM!
Verse #2: Genesis 8:18 "So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives."
Why is this verse important to me? It is because of what I read in all of the verses preceding it. It was a lonnnng wait. They were there in this ark for over a year, when it was all said and done. This wasn't a luxury cruise ship. It was full of animals, and I am sure that the smell was probably pretty awful. They probably had a lot of the same kinds of food, they probably got a little tired of each other, but Noah waited. He waited until GOD told him it was ok and THEN he came out. What I learn from this is that sometimes life is tough. Sometimes it is a long haul and you feel like you are surrounded by stinking animal poo, but you have to wait. You have to wait and listen to God and wait for his command and what he wants to do and when he wants to bring you out of the ark. God was keeping Noah and his family in the ark for their own good, he knew that it wasn't safe and ready for them yet, and Noah and his family trusted God. I have to wait. I have to learn to deal with the poo and just wait.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Genesis 5 & 6
I missed my reading yesterday. Between church, handling a two year old dealing with time change, and just the fun of our weekend days, I didn't have a chance to read Genesis 5.
Today I read two chapters to make up for yesterday.
Genesis 5 was mostly the listing of the genealogy of Abraham's line beginning with Adam. It was definitely interesting to see how long people lived, but the verse that struck me was about Enoch.
Verse: Genesis 5:24 "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."
This verse had a few footnotes to it leading me to other parts of the Bible. It took me to Kings where it talks about Elijah being taken to heaven in the chariot and then to Hebrews 11:5. That verse talked about how Enoch was a man of faith and therefore God simply took him. He is basically in the hall of FAITH. I found this to be so interesting and so amazing. I don't remember hearing much, if anything, about Enoch when growing up. I don't remember reading a lot about him, but here was this man and he was SO faithful, that God simply took him. He walked with God. I like that phrase. It made me think a lot...if I were to be written up in a genealogy of the Bible would it say that about me? Stacy walked with God. I want to be someone that walks with God, and that God sees as a faithful follower.
Genesis 6 was the beginning of the story of Noah. This chapter was interesting. It told the measurements of the ark and such, and it was so neat to read my little footnotes on it. The ark was the length of one and a half football fields and as high as a four story building! That is BIG! It had to be to fit everything in it. One of the things that has always amazed me about Noah was how much faith he also had. I mean, they didn't even know what rain was. Up to this point, the Earth had never seen rain, so for Noah to trust God and build this ark was a pretty amazing step of faith. Think also of the people of this time. I am sure it took Noah a pretty long time to build the ark...surely the people that he knew jeered, laughed at him, mocked him completely...probably called him a fool. Yet, he carried on. I know that sometimes I am afraid of what others will think of my faith so I might not say or do something.
Verse: Genesis 6:9 "This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."
The people of Noah's time were living such evil, wicked lives that they were going to be wiped out by a flood. That is pretty bad stuff. Noah didn't have anyone else that was supporting him in his walk with God. He didn't have a church to attend, he didn't have a care group that he could learn with and share with and ask to pray for him. He didn't have an accountability partner. He simply had God, and he stayed faithful to God. It's a HUGE lesson for me. I have so much, and so much support in my journey to walk with the Lord, yet still I push Him away sometimes. Noah had nothing EXCEPT for God, and he clung to that. I need to do a lot more clinging and a lot less pushing.
Today I read two chapters to make up for yesterday.
Genesis 5 was mostly the listing of the genealogy of Abraham's line beginning with Adam. It was definitely interesting to see how long people lived, but the verse that struck me was about Enoch.
Verse: Genesis 5:24 "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."
This verse had a few footnotes to it leading me to other parts of the Bible. It took me to Kings where it talks about Elijah being taken to heaven in the chariot and then to Hebrews 11:5. That verse talked about how Enoch was a man of faith and therefore God simply took him. He is basically in the hall of FAITH. I found this to be so interesting and so amazing. I don't remember hearing much, if anything, about Enoch when growing up. I don't remember reading a lot about him, but here was this man and he was SO faithful, that God simply took him. He walked with God. I like that phrase. It made me think a lot...if I were to be written up in a genealogy of the Bible would it say that about me? Stacy walked with God. I want to be someone that walks with God, and that God sees as a faithful follower.
Genesis 6 was the beginning of the story of Noah. This chapter was interesting. It told the measurements of the ark and such, and it was so neat to read my little footnotes on it. The ark was the length of one and a half football fields and as high as a four story building! That is BIG! It had to be to fit everything in it. One of the things that has always amazed me about Noah was how much faith he also had. I mean, they didn't even know what rain was. Up to this point, the Earth had never seen rain, so for Noah to trust God and build this ark was a pretty amazing step of faith. Think also of the people of this time. I am sure it took Noah a pretty long time to build the ark...surely the people that he knew jeered, laughed at him, mocked him completely...probably called him a fool. Yet, he carried on. I know that sometimes I am afraid of what others will think of my faith so I might not say or do something.
Verse: Genesis 6:9 "This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."
The people of Noah's time were living such evil, wicked lives that they were going to be wiped out by a flood. That is pretty bad stuff. Noah didn't have anyone else that was supporting him in his walk with God. He didn't have a church to attend, he didn't have a care group that he could learn with and share with and ask to pray for him. He didn't have an accountability partner. He simply had God, and he stayed faithful to God. It's a HUGE lesson for me. I have so much, and so much support in my journey to walk with the Lord, yet still I push Him away sometimes. Noah had nothing EXCEPT for God, and he clung to that. I need to do a lot more clinging and a lot less pushing.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Genesis 4
Wow, working on all cylinders today! The little man, Rocky, decided to sleep through two nights in a row, and dissecting the Word on more sleep is much more fun than on so little sleep.
Genesis 4, well this is a pretty short chapter of the Bible, and the first time I read through it, there wasn't much that really spoke to me. I decided that is probably why Pastor Mark says to read through each chapter twice. As I read through it the second time I thought about something. It doesn't necessarily relate to specific verses, but rather just thoughts that came to my mind.
The thought was to do with Cain and Abel. These are the "first brothers." They are the first two children recorded in the Bible. They are the first to form a brother bond...well, it doesn't turn out to be much of a bond as Cain ends up killing Abel because he is jealous that God accepted Abel's offering and not his own. This is even more tragic when you read verse 7 and it shows God saying to Cain, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" This is showing that God is giving Cain another chance to present an offering that will be acceptable to Him, but instead of doing that, Cain allows his anger to take over him and he uses killing his brother as an outlet for that rage.
This passage made me sad. I have two sons now, Rocky and Rusty. So far, Rusty has nothing but absolute, crazy, head over heels love for his little brother. Just this morning he gave him the biggest unprompted hug and said, "I just love him SO much!" My heart melted at this, and I thought of how special it is for them to have each other. They are brothers. That is such a special bond for them. After reading this passage this morning and seeing a relationship between two brothers go so wrong, it made me hope for the exact opposite for my two boys. It made me realize even more how important it is for us to try to encourage their relationship with one another to be loving and caring. It made me know that praying for them and their relationship is extremely important.
I really do pray and hope that as my boys grow older, they will be great friends, be one anothers' heroes, be there to back each other up, to share triumphs and failures, but mostly just to LOVE each other with a great love. I guess the only thing I can do is try to model that love myself, to encourage them when they show that love to each other, and pray.
Genesis 4, well this is a pretty short chapter of the Bible, and the first time I read through it, there wasn't much that really spoke to me. I decided that is probably why Pastor Mark says to read through each chapter twice. As I read through it the second time I thought about something. It doesn't necessarily relate to specific verses, but rather just thoughts that came to my mind.
The thought was to do with Cain and Abel. These are the "first brothers." They are the first two children recorded in the Bible. They are the first to form a brother bond...well, it doesn't turn out to be much of a bond as Cain ends up killing Abel because he is jealous that God accepted Abel's offering and not his own. This is even more tragic when you read verse 7 and it shows God saying to Cain, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" This is showing that God is giving Cain another chance to present an offering that will be acceptable to Him, but instead of doing that, Cain allows his anger to take over him and he uses killing his brother as an outlet for that rage.
This passage made me sad. I have two sons now, Rocky and Rusty. So far, Rusty has nothing but absolute, crazy, head over heels love for his little brother. Just this morning he gave him the biggest unprompted hug and said, "I just love him SO much!" My heart melted at this, and I thought of how special it is for them to have each other. They are brothers. That is such a special bond for them. After reading this passage this morning and seeing a relationship between two brothers go so wrong, it made me hope for the exact opposite for my two boys. It made me realize even more how important it is for us to try to encourage their relationship with one another to be loving and caring. It made me know that praying for them and their relationship is extremely important.
I really do pray and hope that as my boys grow older, they will be great friends, be one anothers' heroes, be there to back each other up, to share triumphs and failures, but mostly just to LOVE each other with a great love. I guess the only thing I can do is try to model that love myself, to encourage them when they show that love to each other, and pray.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Genesis 3
Whew! Wasn't sure if I would get to do my reading today! I woke up at 6 a.m. with the munchkin and hit the ground running, but he zeed out for a bit and I had a chance to do my reading. Genesis 3 is a great chapter. It really made me think in a lot of ways today.
The verses that I chose to focus on come from Genesis 3:8-10.
Verses: "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?' He answered, 'I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.'"
These verses hit me on so many levels:
The verses that I chose to focus on come from Genesis 3:8-10.
Verses: "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?' He answered, 'I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.'"
These verses hit me on so many levels:
- I love my Bible. It is a study Bible so it has these notes in the margins that accompany almost every verse. Something in the margins for these verses really spoke to me. It was talking about how God really desires to have fellowship with us, just as He did here with Adam and Eve. Because they had sinned they tried to hide from Him and avoid that fellowship. It got me to thinking. Sometimes I wonder why I don't have a stronger desire to fellowship with God, and as I read these verses and those notes it made me realize that it has everything to do with me. A lot of that desire comes from having daily communion with Him, being in the right place with Him, and confessing to Him. A lot of times I might be "avoiding" Him myself, because of something that is not right with me...with me, not HIM! It is not Him not wanting to fellowship with me and be real to me, it is me avoiding Him because of something that I may be ashamed about, even subconsciously. If I am having problems with a friend and not acknowledging it and dealing with it, it affects my relationship with God. If I have sinned and haven't dealt with it, it affects my relationship with God. When I am not right with Him, I try to "hide" from Him, just like Adam and Eve. It makes me realize how ultra important it is to continually be humbling myself before Him, and to also make sure that all things are right within my life.
- Another thing that spoke to me about these verses was that I see that Adam and Eve immediately became aware of their nakedness and tried to cover it up. They also seem to be experiencing the guilty conscience and they are trying to cover that up as well by using these fig leaves. I know that sometimes I try to "cover up" or "push away" what my conscience is telling me. I am being just like Adam and Eve here. I know that sometimes I have laughed at them thinking WHY would they try to cover up and hide from God...but I find that I do the same thing at times. Even though I'm not wearing fig leaves and hiding in a garden, I try to hide from Him in other ways, which is ludicrous and laughable! Who can hide from God??? I need to listen to what my conscience is telling me and deal with it!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Genesis 2
Today's chapter is another one that I have read several times. Usually the focus is on God creating Eve as a helpmate for Adam. I have been through that and looked at the idea of marriage as a part of this chapter many times, so I decided to try to see something else in this chapter instead. I again found two verses that struck me. One of them is just kind of fun, and one was a bit eye opening for me. I'll start with the eye opener.
Verse #1: Genesis 2:2 "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."
This year the school I was working at-before I went on maternity leave-was reading a book about rest, taking a true sabbath, and understanding that rest in God is good and okay and actually something that God calls us to do. This can be a tough one for me. I don't know how often I ever TRULY rest. I can sit on the couch watching mindless television, but I don't know how restful that actually is. I can browse the Internet, but again, not really truly restful. I also think that part of my lack of rest in God comes from the fact that I think I need to be busy. I feel like in today's world there is so much pressure to constantly be busy or to be the one doing things...sometimes I feel like there is this idea that if you aren't so busy that you have no time to yourself then you don't really have much worth. You must be a slacker or something like that. I guess some of this ties back into yesterday's verse, where I need to know that I have worth because I am created in the image of God, and LOOK! Even God rested on the seventh day. He rested. I think that I need to find that place of rest more often. It is okay to stop thinking about the dishes that need to be done, or the laundry that is sitting in the basket. It is okay to ignore the Cheerios crunching beneath my feet. It is okay to rest. I don't think that for me rest is necessarily sleeping or sitting doing nothing. It can be something as simple as reading a book that I like, going to the park with Rusty and watching him play, meeting up with a friend for coffee, or working on the sewing project that brings me joy. Rest is also a time when I can calm my mind enough to remember what God is doing in my life and to think about Him. I need to work on this rest thing a bit more.
Verse #2: Genesis 2:20 "So the man gave names to all of the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field."
This verse struck me not because of any particular deep meaning or anything, but rather simply because it made me smile. Can you imagine? I mean really, think about it. God comes to you and says, "Hey Stacy, see all of these creatures that I made?? Yeah? Well, now you need to name them!" Wow. How do you come up with these names? How do you decide that a dog is a dog, and an elephant is an elephant? What a task that must have been, tough, but also fun I think. I wonder what I would have called a dog? What would YOU have called a dog? Probably not dog, but now we can't imagine it as anything else!
Verse #1: Genesis 2:2 "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."
This year the school I was working at-before I went on maternity leave-was reading a book about rest, taking a true sabbath, and understanding that rest in God is good and okay and actually something that God calls us to do. This can be a tough one for me. I don't know how often I ever TRULY rest. I can sit on the couch watching mindless television, but I don't know how restful that actually is. I can browse the Internet, but again, not really truly restful. I also think that part of my lack of rest in God comes from the fact that I think I need to be busy. I feel like in today's world there is so much pressure to constantly be busy or to be the one doing things...sometimes I feel like there is this idea that if you aren't so busy that you have no time to yourself then you don't really have much worth. You must be a slacker or something like that. I guess some of this ties back into yesterday's verse, where I need to know that I have worth because I am created in the image of God, and LOOK! Even God rested on the seventh day. He rested. I think that I need to find that place of rest more often. It is okay to stop thinking about the dishes that need to be done, or the laundry that is sitting in the basket. It is okay to ignore the Cheerios crunching beneath my feet. It is okay to rest. I don't think that for me rest is necessarily sleeping or sitting doing nothing. It can be something as simple as reading a book that I like, going to the park with Rusty and watching him play, meeting up with a friend for coffee, or working on the sewing project that brings me joy. Rest is also a time when I can calm my mind enough to remember what God is doing in my life and to think about Him. I need to work on this rest thing a bit more.
Verse #2: Genesis 2:20 "So the man gave names to all of the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field."
This verse struck me not because of any particular deep meaning or anything, but rather simply because it made me smile. Can you imagine? I mean really, think about it. God comes to you and says, "Hey Stacy, see all of these creatures that I made?? Yeah? Well, now you need to name them!" Wow. How do you come up with these names? How do you decide that a dog is a dog, and an elephant is an elephant? What a task that must have been, tough, but also fun I think. I wonder what I would have called a dog? What would YOU have called a dog? Probably not dog, but now we can't imagine it as anything else!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Genesis 1
Well now, I have read this chapter of the Bible MANY times. SO many times, in fact, that it was tempting to simply skim over it, but I didn't think that would be a good start to my journey. I forced myself to slow down and really look at the words. Two verses struck me in this chapter. One of them has impacted me before, but one of them really surprised me!
Verse #1: Genesis 1:17 "God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,"
This verse might not seem that special to you, but what struck me was the word set. As I read that word immediately this image of God intricately placing the Sun and the Moon into the sky came into my head. As I thought about that, I smiled, thinking of how much joy it must have brought God to create all of these amazing things! I thought about how he must have smiled as he created the blue whale, how he may have laughed-does God laugh??-as he created the monkey, how beautiful the millions of beaches must have seemed to him as he laid them out with their millions of grains of sand. It just made me smile, and even as I write this, it really makes me think about how truly amazing this wonderful Earth is. I think that often, as I am incredibly blessed to live in what I think is one of the most beautiful PLACES on Earth. Sometimes when I am on the island taking a walk I can't help but stop and smile and say THANK YOU LORD for how gorgeous it all is.
This verse also made me think about how truly creative God is. I mean, we think of Him as the Creator, but I forget that within that very word is the word CREATE and CREATIVE comes from that. God is so incredibly creative!
Verse #2: Genesis 1:27 "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female, he created them."
I don't think that we are actual physical representations of God...I think He is too amazing for us to even conjure up an image of what He might possibly look like. What I DO think is that we are made as reflections of God's glory. When I thought about this, I realized something...I am a living breathing reflection of the glory of God, therefore I shouldn't be so down on myself all of the time. There are so many times that I feel inadequate, or have a low sense of self worth, but that is CRAZY! I am a reflection of God. He chose to make me, and not only to make me, but to make me in His image. With that thought in mind, I just want to smile. It doesn't matter if I am not as gifted as this person as a writer, or if my pre-pregnancy pants don't quite fit yet, or if my hair seems a little too curly...I AM A REFLECTION OF GOD'S GLORY AND I NEED TO LIVE MY LIFE LIKE I BELIEVE IT! I should feel positive about myself. I should know that I have worth to God, and to others around me as well.
The first chapter of Genesis looked different to me today than ever before. I hope that I can stick with this journey and have my eyes opened in new ways!
Verse #1: Genesis 1:17 "God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,"
This verse might not seem that special to you, but what struck me was the word set. As I read that word immediately this image of God intricately placing the Sun and the Moon into the sky came into my head. As I thought about that, I smiled, thinking of how much joy it must have brought God to create all of these amazing things! I thought about how he must have smiled as he created the blue whale, how he may have laughed-does God laugh??-as he created the monkey, how beautiful the millions of beaches must have seemed to him as he laid them out with their millions of grains of sand. It just made me smile, and even as I write this, it really makes me think about how truly amazing this wonderful Earth is. I think that often, as I am incredibly blessed to live in what I think is one of the most beautiful PLACES on Earth. Sometimes when I am on the island taking a walk I can't help but stop and smile and say THANK YOU LORD for how gorgeous it all is.
This verse also made me think about how truly creative God is. I mean, we think of Him as the Creator, but I forget that within that very word is the word CREATE and CREATIVE comes from that. God is so incredibly creative!
Verse #2: Genesis 1:27 "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female, he created them."
I don't think that we are actual physical representations of God...I think He is too amazing for us to even conjure up an image of what He might possibly look like. What I DO think is that we are made as reflections of God's glory. When I thought about this, I realized something...I am a living breathing reflection of the glory of God, therefore I shouldn't be so down on myself all of the time. There are so many times that I feel inadequate, or have a low sense of self worth, but that is CRAZY! I am a reflection of God. He chose to make me, and not only to make me, but to make me in His image. With that thought in mind, I just want to smile. It doesn't matter if I am not as gifted as this person as a writer, or if my pre-pregnancy pants don't quite fit yet, or if my hair seems a little too curly...I AM A REFLECTION OF GOD'S GLORY AND I NEED TO LIVE MY LIFE LIKE I BELIEVE IT! I should feel positive about myself. I should know that I have worth to God, and to others around me as well.
The first chapter of Genesis looked different to me today than ever before. I hope that I can stick with this journey and have my eyes opened in new ways!
My Journey
I am starting on a new journey. It has to do with my 101 Things to Do list, as well as with a challenge our pastor set forth in church about a month ago. He challenged us to read just one chapter in the Bible each day. ONE chapter. That's it! This was before Rocky was born, so I guess it was more like two months ago, but I thought, "I LOVE that idea! I think I could do that!" I am only just getting started because hey, having another baby takes some getting used to, and I am hoping that now that things are settling into a bit of a routine I can do this! I know myself. There will be some days that I miss my reading, but my goal is to try to stay on track. Writing helps. Once I know that I will be writing about something, it makes me want to do it!
The Guidelines (According to Pastor Mark):
I am using the Life Application Bible, New Internation Version, published by Zondervan.
The Guidelines (According to Pastor Mark):
- Read one chapter each day.
- Reread that chapter.
- Choose ONE verse that really stands out to you.
- Dissect it, think about it, write about it.
- Pray
I am using the Life Application Bible, New Internation Version, published by Zondervan.
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