The Pleasure of My Father’s Fellowship
Years ago, my husband and I enrolled in a course taught by a dear friend and pastor entitled The Pleasure of My Father’s Fellowship.
The only tools we needed for our course was an open heart, willingness to commit some time everyday for 5 days to the process, our Bible, and a notebook or journal.
The structure of the course went something like this:
1. Begin each day’s assignment with a sincere prayer that the Holy Spirit teach you as you embark on this course of study.
2. For five days in a row you read the same Scripture assignment provided for you.
3. As you ponder the verses with true attention and depth, notice which verse seems to capture your attention for that day. When this verse becomes apparent, highlight it by recording it in your notebook.
4. Then, ponder what might its significance be for you? What might God be trying to communicate to and with you through this verse? Record your thoughts in your notebook.
We were asked to repeat this process for five days in a row. On the sixth day, our assignment was to review our daily notes, and amongst them, determine the ONE verse that stood out the most to us.
The impact of this structure in my life was life-changing for me. (More on that later in the story).
My assignment for You
I’d like you to read and ponder the 23rd Psalm. You may recall it yourself. It is a source of great peace and comfort to many.
For now, I invite you to stop this moment, and for this day only, practice the process I’ve outlined above. You may choose to read it once over or as many times as you wish to understand how God is speaking to you.
I expect that for many of you, this is countercultural to stop during your very busy schedule and pause in this way. Yet, we have been driving home the importance of exercising this “Pause” muscle for many previous posts. And driving home the importance of putting into practice the ideas and insights that are covered in each Connection.
If you are willing, please push that pause button, take a deep breath as you pause, put aside all the “buts” that may be screaming in your head, and read Psalm 23 below.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and
I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Are you still with me? Did you accept the invitation and read the Psalm? Good job!
PAUSING FOR CLARITY & UNDERSTANDING
Now notice which verse captured your attention…the verse that, for you, has a highlight about it more than any others. When the verse becomes apparent, please record it in your journal. (Hopefully, you accepted a previous Connections invitation to have a journal on hand for just such a time as this.)
Now ponder for a few moments what might its significance be for you? How and what might God be trying to communicate with you through this verse? Please record your thoughts in your journal now.
THE IMPACT ON ME
For those of you interested in hearing more of my thoughts recorded in my journal that day, here goes:
“Dear Lord, I am sitting here reading this Psalm which is among the most renown in Scripture, a source of peace and comfort to countless people the world over for thousands of years, and I DON’T KNOW which verse stands out no matter how many times I read it. All I do know is that I feel like a hamster that keeps running in that wheel in his cage. Except I’m not in the wheel any longer, I am at the bottom of that cage laying on the floor, and I don’t know if I am alive or dead!”
Whoa! I looked at the words recorded in my journal in response to the Psalm and asked, “Lord, what are You wanting to convey to me through this Scripture reading today? That I am running myself ragged? That I am not thinking straight? That I am too busy? That I am overriding Your instruction to rest in You?
What do you want me to get out of this?”
Fast forward to our weekly class where we share with the group our highlight of the week and what we will do differently as a result of our reflection and insight. My husband, sitting next to me hears my sharing, and says in astonishment, “Hon, I live with you. I sit in the chair next to you for hours each evening. I had no idea you were feeling this way!”
My response to him: “Neither did I!”
You see, I had not been paying attention. You may wonder why I make such a big deal about the importance of making “white space” in our lives, to pause, to notice, to take stock, to course correct, to begin anew. It’s been a very hard-won lesson that I seem to repeat again and again. Maybe you do too. We are in good company.
After following this process for one day, I made a commitment that for the rest of the course, daily I would write a note or letter to God answering these questions:
1. How do I feel physically, emotionally, and spiritually?
2. What do I need?
And secondly, each day I would share the answers with my husband.
The impact? I established a remarkable correspondence with God in the form of these “Dear God” daily journal entries. I established a formidable level of intimacy with my husband who came to know his wife much better and more deeply as a result of these daily conversations sharing what I was experiencing and what I needed. My self-disclosure led him to do the same self-examination of feelings and needs and share them with me in return.
Imagine that! I was faithful to follow the daily course instructions to which I committed as much as I wrestled to find meaning in it. As a result of the wrestling, God got the attention of that hamster at the bottom of the cage. And true to the 23rd Psalm, He shepherded me and my husband down a new path.
In a sense, I was in the valley of the shadow of death at the bottom of that restless cage.
Since that time, I have filled dozens of journals with these “Letters to God.” Now we talk about much more than simply how I am feeling or what I might need. We have important conversations about whatever is most “top of mind” for me. Today I wrote to Him and asked Him for His Guidance regarding this Connections writing—to provide me insight if it is a wise use of time and worth continuing
It strikes me that you can help me discern the answer that I posed of Him in today’s letter. Have you found this writing to be useful, or edifying, constructive in any way? If so or not, I welcome your honest feedback in this regard. I love hearing from you by phone or email. (336) 425-8051 or joyce@whitesspace.com (two s’s in whitesspace).
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
In closing, if you are interested in resources for this kind of “Biblical Meditation”, here are two:
1. The Pleasure of My Father’s Fellowship (Workbook and Leader’s Guide). Author H. Martin Puryear. Available through www.stewardoftruth.com
2. Biblical Meditation: Developing a Heart for God. Author David Beaty. Available through www.discoveryseries.org (Downloadable or for purchase).
Thanks for investing the time to engage via these Connections. I look forward to hearing from you.