Lectio Divina-"The Nature and Practice of Spiritual Reading"

I recently joined a Bible study group called Soul Care. It is a Bible study for seminary wives. When I went to the introductory meeting I was not really sure what to expect. Carol (the lady who set up Soul Care) handed out the books that we were going to study. I looked at the cover and read "Soul Feast" Marjore J. Thompson. "Hum interesting title" I thought. I had never heard of this lady or her book. I listened as the book was described as a practical way of developing spiritual disciplines. I was immediately interested. I need spiritual disciplines. I find myself constantly fighting my flesh over the areas of scripture reading, prayer, fasting, worship, confession, service... the list can go on!

This past week we studied the second chapter of the book which talks about a spiritual discipline called Lectio Divina. This just basically means scripture reading. It is a practiced developed by early church fathers, and was practiced all throughout church history. She says "instead of analyzing or judging the text, we receive it as given and attend to what my be spoken through it." She previously had described scripture as "a lake whose depths have never been fully plumbed. On the surface it looks like any other lake; that is, we see human words like those in other books. But when we jump into the lake and begin to swim downward, we may be unable to find the bottom. It is as if those human words become transparent to some mysterious and infinite depth we can never fully grasp."

The way to practice Lectio Divina is in four basic phases. I will not go into the Latin terms for these four steps, mainly because it is easier to remember what is called "the four R's"

The first step after choosing a scripture is Read. You read it slowly, as if it was a love letter. Your read a small portion of Scripture, like 10-12 verses (or less). You read a line, then pause then read a line and pause. For some people reading silently causes our minds to wonder, so she suggests that for those people reading out loud helps. Then when you are done reading it, read it again. Read it three or four times.

The second step is receive. You start to listen for what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you. It might be a phrase from the text that stands out, or a image that came to mind. You are essentially meditating on the text to find out what it might be that stands out about this text.

The third step is respond. You take this phrase or image and you start to pray and find out what it is the Lord wants you to learn from this text. Marjorie says "Perhaps the Word has touched our pain, and we cry out in hurt, anger, or frustration; perhaps God has revealed our sin, and we whisper in confession and repentance; perhaps the Word has evoked gratitude, and our words leap up in thanksgiving; perhaps it has sparked our joy, and we sing out adoration and praise."

The fourth step is rest. After you have gone through all this you just sit quietly and rest in the presence of God. She likens this step to "a weaned child [sitting on his mother's lap who is] not seeking anything at its mother's breast; it is content to rest quietly, enjoying the simple comfort of the mother's loving presence, an image of complete peace."

During our Bible study we practiced Lectio Divina. It was something that I had never done before, and it is now something that I will practice the rest of my life. The feeling is something that cannot be described. The Lord reveled himself to me that night. He reveled a sin in my life. There I was face to face with my heavenly father crying out for forgiveness. After repenting I moved into the rest stage. I really thought this was going to be the hardest stage because my mind is always wondering off thinking about the kids, what needs to be done.. well pretty much thinking about everything. But it was not hard. There I was in the presence of God. It was this peaceful feeling. Everything was calm. It was as if no one else was there, just me and my Savior. I was truly just resting in the presence of the Lord.

I urge you all to try this way of scripture reading. We did this for 30 minutes and it felt like 10. Find a quiet place in your house. Try to get in a place with no distractions. Snuggle up in your favorite chair, get comfortable, and just let God speak to you through his word. I also would recommend having a piece of paper and a pen with you. I found it a lot easier to journal through this process. Here are a few of the scriptures that she gave us to practice this discipline with; Psalm 121, and Proverbs 2:1-6.

I will end this blog entry with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. "The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears and working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love. And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did. That is all. That is meditation...Do no ask "How shall I pass this on?" but "What does it say to me?" Then ponder this Word long in your heart until it has gone right into you and taken possession of you."

Just like Daddy

When Brandon was about four years old his daddy worked for the Overland Park Police department. He brought this shirt home for Brandon one day. My mother in law kept it and passed it down to Daniel. He loves this shirt and wears it all the time. I think he looks really cute in it! This picture is up here for Nanny and Papa to see their grandson in his daddy's shirt, and to spark some memories of when their own baby boy was this age! Enjoy it! We love you!

Little Angel

Big Brother

Daniel loves being a big brother. He is always asking to help me with Monica. Just yesterday he asked me if Jesus has put another baby in my belly because he wants two sisters. Of course I had to break the news to him that it will be a long time before Jesus puts another baby in mommies belly! He is such a wonderful big brother. Monica is really blessed to have him as her brother. I am blessed to have such wonderful children! Here are some pictures of Daniel giving Monica a bath.

Girl Issues

I found this onesie that Aunt Richell bought to be really cute. I think that you can read it but in case you cannot, it says "Does this diaper make my butt look big?"

Daniel's Friends

I found that it is really hard to take a good picture of three toddlers. There is always one who is not paying attention. So here are my attempts to take some shots of the kids that I babysit. Aren't they cute????

My baby girl!

Meijer Gardens

Meijer Gardens is a the Botanic garden and sculpture park here in town. It is pretty close to our house. We found out the the Detroit Art Institute allowed the gardens to borrow the famous "Thinker" statue while they remodel part of their building. So since it was only a couple miles from our house we decided that we should not miss this opportunity. So we went out there yesterday. We all had fun posing at the Thinker. Also at the park they have a MASSIVE horse statue. I had Daniel stand next to it so that we can see just how big it was. They have a pond and a waterfall. Daniel loves that part because he gets to look at the fish. Brandon's favorite sculpture in the park is called "The Beast" He wanted to take a picture of that as well, so I decided to post that picture on here too.

Labor Day

We had a really fun day yesterday. We decided to have a family day before the storm hit today. Brandon is busy back at school this week and I have the baby sitting kids back. So yesterday, at the request of Daniel, we went to the beach. It is a tradition at a certain beach every year that they have an elephant there. The elephant is available for rides until a little before 4:00. Then at 4:30 the elephant will go down to the water and take a dip in the lake. We did not get a chance for Daniel to ride the elephant. But we did see him go down into the water. After that we went to the playground where Daniel played and played. Then we went down to the water. Daniel had a lot of fun there too. He had so much fun that he did not want to go home. Part of the time Monica and I laid out on a blanket trying to shade ourselves from the sun. Daddy and I would switch which of us would be in the water with Daniel. When it was my turn we would go out into the lake and when we saw a wave coming that would be about to Daniel's chin we would turn and run from the "big wave" It was a fun game. It was really funny when Daniel turned to the lake and said "Bring it on lake!" We all had a blast. It was a great family memory.

Elephant at the beach

Here is a short video of the Elephant that we saw. Also a little bit of Monica as well.

Daniel playing

Daniel had so much fun in the water. It was hard to get him to go home!

Daniel's Practical Joke

Daniel playing a joke on Papa!

In my father's likeness

Daniel and Monica

Nanny giving Monica a bath

Bad Hair Day

My Daughter hardly has any hair and yet she is already having trouble with it. She inherited a cowlick from her father. This little bit of hair down not lay down. I try to get it to lay down and if I am at all successful the next think I know it is sticking back up again. Poor Monica! I have a feeling we will be hearing complaints about her hair her whole life!

I AM THAT HERO!!!!!!!!!

This weekend Nanny and Papa came to visit us. Nanny and I decided that we would get creative and try to make Daniel a Larry Boy Costume. Larry Boy is his favorite character from the Vaggie Tales Series. Here are a few pictures of what we have so far. We still need the cape and belt. We all had fun making this for him. Even Papa and Daddy helped! Daniel has been running around the house all evening saying "I AM THAT HERO!"

Parenthood

I do not believe that I knew what true exhaustion was before I had children. It seems that lately sleep has turned from a necessity to a luxury. I find myself craving sleep like one would crave the finest swiss chocolate. If I can only get a small taste of it I would feel like I was on top of the world.

Last night at 2 in the morning not a single person in the Jones household was asleep. Daniel had an accident and his sheets and clothes were soaked in urine. Monica was up screaming her head off hungry. We had Daniel in the bathtub washing himself up. Brandon was changing the sheets and trying to get his bed back in order, and I was feeding the baby. Finally we got everyone all settled down and back into bed. After laying down I looked at the clock in disgust. I knew that in just a couple short hours Monica would be up again hungry. I tried to dismiss this thought and go to sleep so that I could get just a little bit of rest before my day started. Sure enough at 5:15 Monica woke up crying and hungry again. I took her out of the bedroom to feed her in the living room. After she ate and was up for a little while I laid down on the couch in pure exhaustion. Apparently we both fell asleep because I woke up about an hour later to the sound of Brandon taking this picture.

Double Stoller

We got this double stroller from Nanny and Papa as a shower gift. We are very thankful for it. We have a little compact car and this one actually fits in our trunk, with more room to spare than our single stroller. Today we used it to go for a long walk before lunch. It was another beautiful Michigan summer day today.

My Kids- What a blessing!