Glossing Over

One of my favorite verses is Hebrew 4:12 ~ For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Now, this verse could be the subject of SEVERAL blog posts! But, today I bring it before you merely to let you know I'm very aware that any time we read the Word, we can gain new insights. Sadly, though, we often don't. My personal opinion (worth maybe five cents or a cup of coffee) is that our culture has become so 'busy,' that we don't slow down for a LOT of things, including reading His Word. Am I saying I'm not guilty of the same? NO!!! That's why I've been MAKING myself slow down more lately to bend down and pick up the gems He has laid at my feet. Yes, they're always there, but we don't stop often enough to pick them up and admire them.

I remember the first time I saw the ocean. It was down in Florida. I'd seen different seashell collections that friends had in their homes and always thought most of them to be rather boring. But when I walked on the beach along the ocean for the first time, I was totally enthralled by all the 'treasures' laying in the sand! I finally HAD to stop picking them up, as my hands were full and I could hold no more! (Yes, I brought them all back with me from my trip). Well, reading His Word is much the same. We can walk along the beach, totally oblivious to the many seashells and other things that are there. We can walk right by them, over them or ON them and never bend down to pick up a one! I believe we do the same thing with the Word. We read it...often zoom through it, in fact, never stopping to bend down and pick up a beautiful gem that's right there in front of us. After all, we have only 'x' number of minutes to read, so we have to read as much as we can in our allotted amount of time! Zoom! Zoom!

I have a friend who has been living in another country for the last four years. (She's lived the rest of her life in America). So, when she has returned to visit over these years, one of the questions she is most frequently asked is, 'What's the first thing you notice when you come back to the States?' She said her answer is always the same:  how busy everybody is. AARRGH! Guilty? Rather, do you know anybody who ISN'T? I've actually written all of this to go into my pondering of Genesis 48:14, but now my post is too long for that. (So this can be a 'teaser' for tomorrow!)   ;)

So, my friend, teach yourself to slow down. You might be surprised at what you've been missing out on!