Thursday, January 20, 2011

Mom's Commentary - Genesis 1:1a (Part 1)

Genesis 1:1a In the beginning,

In?

Wow, not 'at', or 'for', or 'to start the beginning', but 'in'. So..... the question begs to be asked:

What else was going on in the spiritual realms 'in the beginning'? I long to sit at His feet someday after I am finally put back together (I figure I'll fall apart when I first finally enter His glorious presence).... anyway, I do long to sit at His feet someday and find out what else was going on 'in' the beginning.

In the meantime:

Have we all had a spiritual beginning with God? If not, that is the place to start.

If we have, where are each of us headed? What has been, and what is going on in each of our spiritual realms?

Do we need any new beginnings in Him? (in this post, the discussion revolves around 'we' as individuals......... in the next post, we'll address 'we' as a body........)

Each of us has a 'beginning' to physical life, and we are all also invited to begin a spiritual life through which we learn to walk with God - through which we learn to glory in Him - through which we learn to glorify Him.

When/if we respond to that invitation, we have a 'beginning' to a spiritual life.

God has moved over the course of the last year to show His provision for my spiritual life through the course of time-past. That is being penned in a separate file, but through that process, He has emphasized the 'beginning' of my own sense of the peace of God.

My first memories are of playing under a laundry basket in Olga Reebie's backyard where the peace of God first dawned in my life - while she shared the love of Christ with my mother, who, up until that time, was struggling in life without Him.

That first sense of the peace of God was His first calling to my heart. I didn't know how to respond fully back then, but the peace of God was something towards which my soul aimed ever since until He finally birthed in me a new life - in the spirit. That was when His Spirit began to bear witness with my spirit that I was indeed finally born with a new life (Romans 8:16). I was finally a child of God - a child of the God of peace. What grace and mercy.

Over time God has encouraged me and challenged me in wonderful ways. I hope to give a brief overview of that in a more formalized version of my testimony later this year.

In the meantime, the short of it all is that, upon looking back, it is plain enough to see that when I spent time studying and meditating on His Word, He caused my life to prosper. When I was not faithfully meditating on His Word (due to less study, less sensitivity, more focus on issues in my life, etc.), circumstances came along which have impacted my life (and other lives such as those in my family and church) in contrary ways ever since those periods of time.

He has at times 'given back the years the locusts have eaten.' (Joel 2:25) At other times, He has allowed circumstances to set in that are having a cumulative strain on our family or etc.

Of late, there has been some rewarding and significant study and meditation in my life, but it was sporadic at best.

With the encouragement from Bill Gothard's Basic Youth Conflicts Seminar, it is clear that study, and particularly meditation needs to have a renewed emphasis in my life.

There are other 'beginnings' (and/or renewings) that need to occur in my life as well. At the end of this entry, I've included a list of things I need to begin and/or renew efforts towards finishing.

That list includes 'Mom's Commentary', being written more for my own study, but with an eye towards providing any grandchildren I might have some day a chance to meet their granny more spiritually. This is the first entry towards that end. (but since I'm not a granny yet, I'm not calling it Granny's Commentary yet either.......)

Now, with a new beginning in the study of His Word, may He grant the grace and peace in which to walk in His love more fully each day. May He help me to not resist His grace with pride, but transmit His love with humility (But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. James 4:6-7a)

May He do the same for you too!

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

................

Recently, He has been calling me to 'begin' new studies, and to begin to pick up old projects in my life.

--setting Colossians to music....... (!? .....yeah......! - Not quite half done...... )
--reviewing hymns (and psalter settings of psalms) I've learned with my children
--reviewing Bible verses and passages I have learned in the past
--spending specific time meditating on His Word
--writing out a commentary for my children's children to get to know their granny some day.... (this is the first entry towards that end)
--getting back to organizing the music lessons He put on my heart (which I left at the cabin...*blush*)
--printing out the family cookbook that's almost organized, and binding it one way or another
--mind-mapping the reading lessons that finally make utter sense to me!!! (woohoo! - that was a breakthrough straight from God....... wow!)
--helping our sons who are still home to set spiritual goals (began writing lists of things they should be attending to, such as taking on the task of ordering their memory work and review more independently, addressing struggles they might face due to 'sins of their fathers' (and mothers), etc.)
--getting back to work with 'godly-lady' lessons in a more pointed way with our daughter
--finding the hard copy of the rough draft of my testimony and reworking that
--etc.

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