It's actually cold outside this morning! Okay, so it's not really cold- it's actually closer to chilly, but still. There's one red tree in the neighborhood so far, but the trees and shrubs behind our fence are slowly turning yellow, one leaf at a time.
The pool person still comes, don't ask me why. Only a person from the far northern latitudes, like Norway or Greenland could think our pool a pleasant place of relaxation and exercise at its current temperature. And then only after a really, really hot sauna.
I worked on Torii yesterday. I was afraid that I would have forgotten where I was or what I was doing, but I remembered how I was unraveling and then knitting it back together. I got a lot done- I'm almost through with the massive rewrite that takes out the dog sled journey and replaces it with one by sea.
I have been discovering that, for me, it's much easier to understand the Bible if I read it one book at a time, as opposed to one chapter at a time. Chapter by chapter, it's harder to understand the building themes and main points.
Of course, there's no one way to read it, but just for myself, reading it book by book has really opened up my understanding of it.
It's also really helpful to know who wrote it and the audience they were writing it for.
I've branched out into the books of the New Testament, bit by bit. I can only do so much before I'm overwhelmed by information and concepts, and all my old baggage that He is taking away now, piece by piece.
I've been familiar with the Bible my whole life, but I don't think I ever really... saw it or experienced it as well as I am now, and as it is, I'm far from understanding it now. I don't think a person ever really can completely understand it.
And then, after I get overwhelmed, I like to go back and read the gospel of John. I like just thinking about what is true of Him- like the fact that He is my God, but also my Brother. How amazing is that? How amazing is it that we are in the family of God Himself? And not in any temporary or merely symbolic way, but actually born again, born of the Spirit.
So, when I begin to say the first part of the Lord's Prayer, I get struck by the wonder of it- "Our Father..." it begins. I'm saying it with Christ, and together we are saying "Our Father..." His Father is also my Father! How incredible! How vast and unknowable and beyond anything I could ever deserve or earn by my small human actions.
And I like to think about how Christ is the only and uniquely begotten Son of God. The very nature of God is to be in relationship to Himself. And, from reading John, one gets this glimpse of an incredibly loving relationship between them.
Jesus is always doing only the thing that pleases His Father, because He loves His Father. And His Father is always glorifying and loving His Son, because He loves His Son, and does His will. Jesus is giving God the glory, and God is giving Him the glory and so on and so forth.
In a documentary recently, I watched the story of Abraham about to sacrifice his only son. God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, whom he loved, and give his life to God. Of course, at the last minute, God stops him and spares his son.
It struck me right to the heart, because what God spared Abraham, He did not spare Himself. He did not spare His only and uniquely begotten Son from being slain. He didn't stretch forth His hand and say, Stop! This is my only begotten Son, whom I love and in whom I am well pleased. You won't touch a hair on His head.
There was no ram in the thicket for Jesus- no one else could shoulder that load, no one else could lay down their life, in order to take it up again. He had to pass through it and drink the cup right to the dregs. The mercy that God extended to Abraham's son, He did not extend to His own.
Of course, we know why. It's so that, together with Christ, we can say, "Our Father."
