Good Afternoon....made the mistake of getting on the scale this morning for my weekly weigh-in. It was ugly. Maybe it's motivation for a week of fasting or something like that.
Periodically I go through a phase where I buy and read classic works of fiction. My latest purchase was John Steinbeck's massive novel, East of Eden, which is a sort of retelling of the biblical Cain and Abel story. I finally finished it up Friday evening while sitting by the fire and enjoying turkey and stuffing sandwiches (hint, this may have something to do with my scale issue noted earlier). I now know why it's considered a classic. Great characters, great storytelling, and beautiful, vivid words to paint the whole picture. Since I've never read The Grapes of Wrath I'll probably pick it up and read that next. I have this hope that someday when my kids are taking English in High School they'll be able to look at my bookshelf and find there the kinds of books they're reading. Maybe I'll pick up Of Mice and Men too, I remember reading that in Mrs. Traut's junior English class and thoroughly enjoying the George and Lennie saga.
I also skipped out on a 15 year High School reunion in Hartford. I've seen a few photos on Facebook and I'm actually a little disappointed that I wasn't able to get there. Maybe for the 20th?
Sunday I taught on Jesus' prayer in the garden. Maybe you know the one? "Not my will, but yours be done." Man, that's a tough prayer to pray. I had a couple of good conversations following the message in the morning with people who resonated with the idea that we often put off having a dialogue with God that goes that way. In fact, as I was teaching, I realized there were a couple of conversations God was trying to have with me that I'd been putting off because I wasn't really interested in his will, just interested in me getting my will done.
Yesterday in my journal I compared it to a chess game. It's as if God has opened the game some time ago, attempting to initiate a conversation with me, but I just went on pretending all the pieces were still in the same place they were before. I feel like the message opened up my eyes to what I've been ignoring, so I'm actually doing my best to practice what I preach, and open up my heart and mind to hearing what God is trying to say to me about his will for my life.
I believe what I said Sunday - all of our growth as followers of Jesus will come from a place where we pray that prayer submitting our will to God's. So I'm looking forward to some good growth in my life, and hoping and praying that you'll be experiencing the same as you submit your will to his for your life.
Grace. Peace. Feel the warmth of his smiling countenance upon your face.
"Grapes of Wrath" is one of the best books I have ever read. You'll like it. Highly encourage you to read it.
Posted by: ken | December 04, 2008 at 07:30 AM