Blessed

 About two months ago, I began a 31week (free!) online study offered by JesusCollege.com  based on Dallas Willard's book The Divine Conspiracy. This study is a deep dive into the Beatitudes found in the fifth chapter of the book of Matthew and explains what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus.  (It's not too late to join this study, if you are interested. Previous half hour lessons are recorded.) 

This is a book to read slowly and thoughtfully. At times, I reread passages to ensure I am getting what is being presented.  I'm learning that the Beatitudes are not rules or a qualification list. Phew! That takes a load off!  

The beatitudes are "explanations and illustrations, drawn from the immediate setting, of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus. They single out cases that provide proof that, in him, the rule of God from the heavens truly is available in life circumstances that are beyond human hope." p. 121

(Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash)

At the end of last week's lesson, our teacher Doug Webster encouraged us to write down some personal beatitudes. In other words, fill in the blank: 

Blessed are the ________________ for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. 

Here are a few that came to mind for me: 

Blessed are the frustrated....

Blessed are the disappointed...

Blessed are the fearful....

Blessed are the insecure.....

Blessed are the hopeful.....

Blessed are the impatient....

Blessed are the dreamers.....

Blessed are the persistent....

Blessed are the empty-handed....

Blessed are the guilty...

What would you add? 

The Year of the Slow Read

I love a good reading challenge. That's what I love about GoodReads. I can set my goal, watch that little line inch along to the finish line, and celebrate reading all.those.books. The higher the bar the better, right? Well, for me, not this year. This year my focus is going to be different. I'm going to embrace the 'slow read'.

There's the slow food movement, the slow media movement, the slow fashion movement, so why not the slow read movement?

It's all about quality of reading time over quantity.

Slow reading means that I won't try to speed read through an ever increasing number of books this year. My goal is to take my time and enjoy myself. I'll still set a goal, but it'll be easily doable (for me, that's 24) and I won't be pushing myself to exceed that number. 

My Unread Shelf factors into this in a big way. There are books in my home library that have been waiting for a long time to be picked up. I'm continuing to give them a chance this year. I'll read at least 12 pages a day to start, which is a slow but sure progress. No pressure to finish the book in a week or two.  I want to say I enjoyed it or, if not, then  I decided to give it away. No pressure to finish.

I'll still be reading more than one book at at a time, which seems to be my default setting. Usually one fiction, one non fiction, and one devotional type book are on my book pile. 

I want to take time to write down thoughts as I read, and I find that hard to do if I just want to get through the book. More meaningful reading is my goal.

How about you? Do you set reading goals? Love a good challenge? How many books do you read a year?

Photo by Mahendra Kumar on Unsplash