Half-A-Year With God
At the outset, I only knew life was getting too complicated for me. God pulled me close and reminded me to look at Him. So, to do that I more or less copied the format of Psalm 119. Over 182 days, or half of a year, I took the letters of the English alphabet and listed 7 words of each that can be used to describe God. I did this one word per day often asking God which one I should use. I think I failed maybe once or twice to keep that schedule. I then would think on Him and write whatever came to mind. I eventually had to limit each word’s description to around 7 lines according to my notes, but I didn’t need to start doing that until around ‘E’.
At first, I was excited as A-G were fun. I liked thinking about Him, and before I knew it, a lot of time had passed- 49 days to be exact. Then what I was doing started to sink in. I knew I liked thinking about Him, but I began to wonder, ‘Did I like it that much?’ I felt the first pangs of frustration around ‘M’, as I began to want to do my own thing. I still liked doing it and knew/appreciated the value, but it was starting to get in the way.
Then by ’S’ I had turned over another leaf and began asking myself “Who am I?” I didn’t deserve to do this. “I am not worthy”. Then things started moving faster. Voices and accusations from others could be heard: “He sure likes to listen to himself.” “He’s full of himself.” etc. and the question of, “Why is he even doing this?” echoed around in my head. They made their appearance in the last word of the last letter in the form of a mirror. As it crumbled with vanity, I reflected on this journey.
This assignment was given to help me keep my eyes on Him, and though life didn’t get any less complicated, it accomplished the task even more than Bible reading. Which reminds me, the verses I put at the end of every entry were at times silly and sarcastic, at others quite pertinent to the word. I often found them with a Google search: “‘Word-of-the-day’, god, verse”. I would read it to see if I liked it, then done. Lack of sleep and sickness also took its toll on me as week ‘Z’ was just bad, which I’m sure was reflected in my writing style.
All things considered, I’d do it again. It is better than any personality profile test. The words I chose revealed what I most think about in regards to God. Most of the time I had 20+ words to choose the 7 from. At others like ‘Z’, I had around 10. I know I learned a few new ones as well like ‘xyresic’, which helped to increase my vocabulary. During any letter with which I had difficulty finding my 7, I again used a Google search: “‘letter’, words”. Theologically, I haven’t combed through this to see where I fall on the heretic/orthodox line. I imagine I’m all over, like my alphabetizing ability. I do remember ‘God’s favor’ being a consistent theme, which makes sense as it is something I pray for every day.
One last thought, as my kids grow, I know I won’t be here forever. This will probably be one of the greatest things I can pass down to them- more or less a, ‘What I think about God’. If they would pass it to their kids, adding their own “Half-A-Year With God”, their kids would see their lineage and heritage of thought/prayer/relationship with God that may encourage their own. If you choose to do this, feel free to make up your own rules. I also posted this with links to whatever I wanted, again found by a Google search.
In an age when we take pictures of what we eat, may this be something of longer lasting and edifying substance.