It's been awhile again but it hasn't been from lack of effort.
This exercise asked me to read a Book in the Bible.
I chose to read the Book of Mark every day to my daughter during bedtime. Most of the time she was asleep but I did it anyway.
The LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. -- Isaiah 58:11
The exercise asks, "How will spending time daily with God change my situation and my perspective?"
Immediately, I realized that my fears and anxiety are understandable but that I'm not alone in this world and like the cartoon of Jesus holding back the large stones while an occasional peeble may sneak through, I know I'm loved and protected.
Just as I tell my daughter daily I love her and just as I try to let my actions give her the confidence and reassurance to learn and grow, God is there for me. By spending that extra time daily to stop the world and remember how much God loves me makes some of those worries into pebbles on my road.
As we read Mark together, it served as a great reminder of how much love God has for us. Would I be able to ask my son to do what God asked of him?
The second reflection asks how I can expand my daily interaction with God. I suppose I can continue to read another book. I actually tried to read the Acts again but that quickly fizzled out. I think I'd like to read the letters again. Each letter is rich with human emotion.
I find myself praying to Mary more often nowadays. I used to pray to her almost daily as a preteen. When I felt misunderstood or confused, I would pray to her.
I think I've been thinking more about Mary these days because of the universal bond of motherhood. I keep thinking of how hard it must of been to stand back and let her son be persecuted.
On a side note: I know I'm taking forever to finish this but I actually find it very helpful and I can always flip through to a reflection and redo it under the circumstances I am in at the moment.
I started this to grow stronger in my relationship with my husband and with others but I realize now that the stronger my relationship is with God, the stronger my relationship with others will be.
