5 MINUTE FRIDAY - BELOVED

I love these 5 minute Fridays. They remind me of college when my professor would have free write. I LOVE free writing - no pressure, just a pen scratching across paper, or in this case fingers flying on a keyboard. You can head over to www.lisajobaker.com to check it out, but basically, she gives us a word - today's is Beloved - and then you write for 5 minutes. So, here I go.

Beloved - today, I was doing my Bible study. It's a look at the Gospels through 1st century Jewish eyes. I love it because it has opened up those four books in a way I've never really seen before - and I've been attending Sunday school since I was about a month old.

I started last fall and God, in His perfect timing, has set it up that as I started studying the last four days that lead up to Jesus's crucifixion, death and resurrection as the season of Lent started. I don't normally "do" Lent, being a Baptist and all, but I do like the idea of preparing for Easter, of walking that road with Jesus. I'm looking forward to these last weeks of the study and hope to finish the week of Easter.

Today, as I was reading in my study, one sentence leaped out at me. "Revelation of the deepest truths of God can never come without intimacy."

To be completely honest, I've been feeling rather blah about things lately and that includes my time with God. I've just felt sort of like He's there but He's been rather quiet. It's my fault though.

I've let my quiet times slide a bit. I've cut them short. I've skipped days in a row. It's no wonder I feel blah. The real truth is I've been a little put out with Him. There, I said it.

I've not felt thankful - mostly because this month it seems every bill has come due, and on top of that we've had a plumbing problem, too. And not just once, but twice! I've been focusing on the circumstances and not on Him.

Today as I read my Psalm of the day, it was Psalm 15. It says in there that "I set the Lord continually before me and because He was at my right hand, I was not shaken."

I am my Lord's beloved. He loves me more than I can ever fathom, but lately, I've not been viewing Him as MY beloved. I have not been setting Him continually before me. Without that intimacy, there can be no deeper revelations.

Has God seemed silent to you lately? Maybe it's because you are not intimately seeking your Beloved. Run to Him - He is always waiting with open arms.

~ Blessings, Bronte