Back in January I made a pact with this girl to read a Psalm a day for 30 days and then write down something I learned from it. The point was to help her get into God's word everyday and hopefully give her some stability in her life. I'm not sure it had much impact on her life, but it sure has done great things for mine. Before this I knew spending time with God was important. I did devos nearly everyday, but honestly it was more of a chore than something I truly wanted to do. Recently, I've started reading through past prayer journals and often there would be days when I wouldn't write anything, because I had skipped doing devos that day.
Starting this whole reading a Psalm a day thing has changed things. I was extremely motivated to find time to spend a good quality amount of time with God and as I went through this process I began to love it. Rather than something I had to fit into my schedule it became a time I looked forward to. It was a time of refreshment. And slowly, I began to realize that spending time with God was the most productive part of my day. Hands down. It was here that I could lay my problems down, knowing they were heard. It was here where I found way cool truths in the Bible that completely blew my mind. It was here that I discovered a love for me far beyond anything I could imagine. I'm not saying that I've never experienced this before, just never in day to day quantities. And I love it!
The 30 days has long passed now, and I can honestly say I haven't missed a day where I take some time to spend with God. Not because I feel like I have to, but because I WANT to. God is AWESOME...way beyond any of my puny attempts to describe Him. The fact that He loves me, and desires this intimate relationship with me, blows me away. This past summer I attended a camp where the main speaker compared spending time with God to running. He said that running at first sucks, it's hard and not a lot of fun. But slowly, over time you learn to love it and soon you can barely go a day without doing it. He said that spending time with God was the same way. You don't have to start out 'running a mile'. But forcing yourself to spend just a little bit of time with God each day, causes your desire to do this grow more and more. Soon, five minutes isn't enough time...soon it's not asking how long is long enough, it's being disappointed when time runs out.
So yeah...life's been really good this year so far. Not because everything is going perfectly, but because I'm becoming more deeply rooted in the One who makes me content in all things. :)
