Good morning…
We have many newcomers to our “sue2you” community, and it dawns on me that some of you do not know how these messages come about and why they are posted at random hours of the day and night. 12:29 am and 1:01 am. 2:29 am, 2:59 am, and 5:21 am. 7:05 am, 7:21 am, and 8:11 am. These are the hours my posts appeared over the past ten days. There was even a message that came out at 1:43 pm, which is very unusual. That night, I was up diligently writing from 2:00 am to 4:00 pm, but I could not discern clearly what God was trying to teach me, so I climbed back into bed and finally gleaned God’s message after taking my kids to school, after walking with a friend, and after teaching my class for the day. My blog messages are crafted whenever God wakes me, covering whatever topic the LORD lays on my heart.
As I dive deeper into my Spiritual Direction training program, I understand more clearly that discipline is a key component to developing Christlike characteristics in our ordinary lives. Common spiritual disciplines include setting the alarm clock early to begin the day in quiet solitude or meditating in silence on a given scripture, following a structured method of prayer or breaking away from normal life to a be nurtured by God on a silent retreat. The smattering of times my daily messages are posted might, on the surface, seem undisciplined to the traditional eye.
Yet when I look beneath the scattered-looking surface, I see a unique pattern God and I have established. The LORD wakes me when He desires, I lay in bed scanning my brain to comprehend, “What are You teaching me? How do I describe in words Your invitation into deeper intimacy? Which words describe my growing edge, that expanding spot where You and I converse?” I lay in silence as long as it takes, until a seed of wisdom begins to sprout. I get out of bed and make myself a warm drink; tea before 4:00 am, coffee after 4:00 am is my general rule. Then in silence, under the microscope of my computer screen, I watch the seed of God’s idea mature into a morning message, a message that feeds me before it feeds you.
With each blog post, I include a supporting scripture verse or two. Sometimes a word pops into my brain and I plant the word in the Bible Gateway website to see how the word is alive in scripture. At other times, I remember a biblical phase I have nibbled on before, I type that phrase into Bible Gateway, and I find my way to God’s full-bodied truth for the day. At other times, scripture verses are lying on my heart as I wake and I dive into those divinely inspired words as the seed of the daily message. I like exploring various Bible translations so that I can discern which words best represent what God is trying to teach us.
From now on, when you notice the time my blog messages are posted, you will understand that God and I have been playing with words for a few hours before I copy and paste the post into a MailChimp message, from “sue2you.”
These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God… Psalm 19:14 (MSG),
Sue
