Meditation

I'm becoming less fond of using the word "devotions" to describe reading God's word and prayer. I remember when I was young, like 8 or 9 years old, my Dad would wake up our entire family at 6am every other morning to do family "devotions". To say the least, it was brutal. First of all, I hated being interrupted from sleep and so early! Second, I ended up sleeping half the time and between prayers because I was so tired! Third, I don't think I retained anything with my brain still asleep. Don't get me wrong, I do commend my Dad's valient efforts to get his family on the right track spiritually and eventually I grew in my faith and love for the Lord. But after that, I began (perhaps subconsciously) to associate the word "devotions" with "chore", and doing devotions akin to fulfilling a daily chore. That phrase "doing devotions" has become so commonplace in Christian circles that we don't stop to think about its connotations. I know I'm probably overanalyzing something so menial, but too bad cause it's my blog and I want to! Reading God's Word and praying shouldn't be something we tick off our daily (or perhaps, weekly ;P) "To Do" list and, once done, move on to the next item. I used to think of it that way. I used to think that once I read my Bible and prayed I'm good to go for the day; my conscience was eased and I could respond with a resounding "YES!" when my Dad asked "Did you do your devotions today?" I know he meant well; every parent does. But now that I look back in hindsight of where I have traveled from in my journey with Christ, I know that what starts with "doing devotions" evolves into moment-by-moment awareness of the Holy Spirit's presence in every aspect of one's life. Today I like to use the word "meditation" because it requires both deep thought coupled with action. Meditation requires one's active engagement/contemplation/reflection followed by action related to one's reflection.

In the book of Psalms we find the word "meditate" used throughout to describe what one does with the precepts/commands/laws of the Lord. When I meditate on the Word of God and consider all of His ways and His truth, the Holy Spirit changes my course of action from mine to His. And the wonderful thing about the Holy Spirit is that He's not only present when I open the Bible and pray during an allotted time, but when I wash the dishes, deal with a student at work, cook dinner, workout. Meditation is not limited to the minutes or hours I allot to "doing devotions" but rather, it permeates daily life as we reflect and contemplate and act on what we come to know about God and His ways. I can pray any where, any time and God hears me. It really is about abiding in Him day by day by day.

So those are my thoughts on that.

Today has already been met with frustration, challenge, sweat, doubt, and temptation, but thanks be to God that when we call upon His Name his Spirit meets us at our point of weakness and gives His strength. I know He is working miracles as I type and He will be faithful to His promises. Sometimes when we've been praying for a long time about something or someone and God doesn't seem to be answering our prayers, it's easy to lose hope or to doubt His faithfulness, but who or what else do and can we turn to? Seemingly impossible circumstances are God's forte. Although I don't deny that I doubt or get frustrated at times, at the end of the struggle I trust all the more in God that He knows what He is doing and allowing to happen and that in time, we will see and understand the intended purposes of His will.

Some noteworthy bits before I end:

1) I cooked Beefsteak (or "Bifstek" depending on how FOB you are ;P) Filipino style with the lemon and everything (Mom's recipe) for the first time and Dale said (and I quote): "It's probably one of the best things that have come out of our kitchen." I even surprised myself at how good it turned out, especially since I don't cook often (but that's changing! heehee).

2) We're getting a new car today! Silver 2000 Honda Civic Si, manual. Haha, yeah our first manual car and we both don't know how to drive stick. Well, Dale's been practicing with Reggie's car. Actually, only on one occasion. But he claims he's driven stick in the past on different occasions with different vehicles. Yesterday, we tested out the car one last time (with the owner driving us around) and Dale took it for a brief spin on a deserted road with no cars. He did well. Hahaha...I think he'll learn pretty fast and then be able to teach me. Until then, I'll be driving our soon to be spotless inside and out CRV. Guys really know how to keep a car messy!

3) Hannah and Reggie are getting married on Saturday! Time to boogie down! (Haha, not really cause I don't dance)