Look for me...

Bible and Coffee

My husband and I have always had a comfortable routine. He would get up, make coffee, and go to his room (you can insert laughter here if you understand). I get up, do my thing, grab a cup of coffee, and find my favorite spot to enjoy what people call the still small hours. When it is warm outside, I head to my spot on the front porch and watch everything wake up to His glory. My husband knows where I am and joins me in his chair. We sit in comfortable silence. Sometimes we talk about what we intend to do for the day, but often we just sit. If I have to leave for work, my time there is shorter. If it is a weekend or I'm off, I enjoy this time for a bit longer.

He was a firefighter for 30 years. He would be up all hours and never slept much at a time. He worked at a larger fire department and his department was always very busy. He retired several years ago and has struggled to find a sleeping pattern. He sleeps well for a few hours and then is up sporadically throughout the night. Years of training do not go away overnight. He gets frustrated and, you guessed it, Pollyanna here tries to help him understand that his body will remember the patterns of sleep for many many many years. His sleep routine may never go back to normal.

You see, our mind is truly a beautiful thing. It remembers the vivid vibrant world and replays those memories. Our mind also remembers patterns and those things that aren't what we want to remember. As my husband is learning, those things that we do for years become engrained in us, and we don't forget overnight, sometimes ever.

I love reading and always have. My husband is an avid reader. Our boys loved to read and our grandson is following suit. He is in the 3rd grade and will tell anyone and everyone he reads at a 9th-grade level. As a young person, I could immerse myself in a book and forget what was happening around me. Forget, the life I didn't want but found myself in. I could open the pages of Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, or Herman Melville. I have many of those books in our library. (Now if you know what the office looks like, you can insert a lot of laughter here.) I could begin a book and soon could see the imagery, smells, and scenery, and feel as though I was a character within that book.

I am ashamed to admit that the Bible wasn't one of the books that I immersed myself in. I didn't understand how to read the Bible. I understand now why it was harder to read. Within those pages is an unconditional love that many find hard to accept. I did. A forgiveness that is given freely to all those who believe. Ephesians 1:7 says, "In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace." I love to read the stories in the Bible, and I am beginning to see the imagery and be within those lines. But the more important part is I have accepted the love and forgiveness so freely given by the Author. If we accept His love, just like my husband must accept his sleep patterns, the pages come alive with promises, understanding, guidance, and blessings. My husband has the assurance in the morning where to look for me. And, he has the assurance that when he gets to Heaven, He can"Look for me, I'll be there too." Yes, I know my husband's sleep patterns and understanding God's love and acceptance aren't even on the same level; however, you get the picture. If you can understand God's love, you can understand His redemption. The book appointed by God can come alive for you and you can live within the pages.