Learning from this Season

I know it's been a bit quiet around here these last few weeks and I'm sorry for that.  I honestly love taking time to share how God is working in my life.  I love the community of friends I have made through the blogsphere.  Writing here on my blog normally brings me great joy but that's not always the case and to be honest I have found it to be a struggle the last few weeks.  Typically, I would sit down and plan (I love to organized) times to write, edit, network and stick with my plan but recently, when the time came I had no desire or motivation to write. My hope and desire for this blog is to post meaningful and productive content and that is why I have adopted the philosophy that I'd prefer have a few days of silence rather than post for the sake of posting. 

image credit Alison Burrow from A New Creation Studio

I have been in a bit of a funk lately, I've been feeling down, empty and far from God.  I found myself praying for strength and energy just to get through the day.  Although, I was able to make it through the day at work I know that it was not of my own strength and I still had very little energy to do anything else and couldn't understand why I was in such a slump.  Then it hit me...the free time I did have I was spending on the couch doing nothing productive...pointlessly surfing the internet, watching more TV then I normally would and just sulking feeling sorry for myself.

Clearly this slump I was in wasn't doing me any good and I realized that I hadn't been spending much time in His Word if any.  No wonder I was feeling empty and far from God, I wasn't spending time with Him!  Our relationship with God is like relationships here on earth, if we don't spend time together, if we aren't communicating and not listen to one another then we are bound to grow apart.  I had inadvertently put my relationship with God on the side lines, I wasn't soaking in His word, I wasn't spending quality time with Him and found myself in what I now realize as a self instigated slump.

After thinking more about how I got to that point, I realized that I had made a conscious decision not to be legalistic about the time I was spending in the Word.  As part of that decision I made a commitment not to spend time in His Word just for the sake of a check mark beside 'read the Bible' on my 'To Do' list.  I wanted the time I spent with Him in His Word to be the desire of my heart, and I wanted that time to be quality time not just a quick read.  As I've struggled through this season of emptiness I learnt a valuable lesson...even if the time I spend in the Word is planned it doesn't mean it's legalistic and it's better than not spending time in the Word at all.  'Read your Bible' has landed itself back on my 'To Do' list but I continue to be mindful of the attitude in which I approach His Word every day.  If I open the Bible with the desire to have a closer relationship with Him I am on the right track because He promises that all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching (2 Tim 3:16).  So with that in mind, I'll keep it on my 'To Do' list.