Hungry.

We took our Christmas trees down last night. Our 63 day passage from Lea's birthday to Trey's birthday has come and gone. We lived it. Inside of those 63 days a season of ordinary time closed, Advent opened and closed, Christmastide opened and closed and Monday we remembered the Magi seeking the King under the stars on Epiphany. Yesterday, a new season of ordinary time opened again and will carry us towards the season of Lent and preparation for the cross and resurrection of Easter. I missed the trees this morning, but I'm drawn into this stretch of ordinary time where we continue to live out of the greatest news that Jesus has come to live among us, and now inside of us through His Holy Spirit.

Why do I write about this over and over again? I told some friends yesterday that I'm writing this over and over to remind myself that I really do want the rhythm's of my life to be primarily focussed on Jesus and not myself. There is a strong pull to constantly wanting to orient my life around me. I do it well. But I know there's more. I'm hungry for it. I want to live my days focussed on Jesus and the rhythm of His life. Following these liturgical rhythms is a small, simple way to hijack my mind because, yes, it is a bloody battle loving Jesus. And so I suspect that I'll keep writing about it, if for nothing else to keep reminding me that it's not about me. It's about Him.

I am particularly attentive in this particular season of ordinary time. Lord willing, a new life will enter our family Grove as Taylor and Ashley await the arrival of their first child in the coming weeks. The waiting from Advent is spilling over into this holy ordinary time. I am imagining hearing this new babies voice. I am imagining this new baby hearing the Spirits voice. I am also particularly attentive to God's Word in this ordinary time. I discovered that the most marked books in my bible are the love letters of First and Second Peter. I have never taught verse by verse through these letters and I am deeply honored and expectantly hopeful to be teaching through them beginning this semester with our student family at our church. I will also be reading through First Peter with our church staff over the next several months.

I realize that I tend to take in God's word in little bites much like I do all of the other byte data of my day. Thanks be to God anytime there is Bible intake of any form. Truly. There is so much other meaningless dribble that I can and have consumed. So, if this day is a day of a little bite of the Word, so be it. Take it in. Swallow deep and receive nourishment like no other. I also have friends who are whispering with their lives about taking long continuous bites of the Word and His presence dwelling therein. I wanted to share a longer bite with my staff friends this week as we begin to process through First Peter together in the coming weeks. So, we took twenty minutes and we read through the whole letter out loud. As I listened with less focus on chapter number and verses, I was aware of my heart slowing. I was aware of my friends voices speaking God's Word. I was aware of being hungry for the Word of God. I know it's true. That hunger is not there because of me. It is there in spite of me, kicking and screaming at times numbing my way away. But it is there none the less. Delicious, tasty words of life that are ruining all of the other tastes to the glory of God.

Hungry?

Hungry.

Eat.

There's more.