Mind Blown

"The heart cannot love what the mind doesn't know."

Mind. Blown.  Excuse the over-used, painfully obvious pun.  Think about the first time you meet someone and you say to yourself, "I want to know this person more." So, you seek to spend time together.  You hang out.  You chat.  Back in the olden days, we did that. Chat.  Face-to-face.  Long conversations over mediocre college cafeteria food.  Late-night laughter on the phone.  Or spontaneous Slurpee runs.  You get to know this person. And you do this by spending time, the very best currency of all.  The more you know, the more you love.  It's a heart-mind connection.  

This could be true of a completely platonic friendship.  Or in a romantic relationship.  But, the beautiful thing is that it can also be true of the most life-transforming relationship.  With Jesus.  And, how best to know Him than to spend time with Him.  And, how can we do just that?  We can read His story.  We can learn about who He is--his character, his person.  Wow.

No, I didn't have a late-night epiphany on the road to Damascus--or to Kroger.  I didn't find it on a Pinterest meme.  Two weekends ago (a fortnight!), I packed up my forest-green travel duffle (circa 1995), jumped in a car with two of my favorite sister-peeps, and landed at our annual FBC Ladies Retreat in the booming metropolis of Linden, Tennessee.  Population 134.  Or thereabouts.

Enter Glenna Marshall, our speaker.  How many times have we heard the phrase, "To know Him is to love Him"? (capitalization mine).  It's a basic truth.  But, so many times, we J-inclined Christ followers make knowing Him so very complicated.  We must have the latest, trendiest Bible study workbook, a chevron-striped fabric-ensconced journal that we made ourselves (with matching pen), the accompanying app, French press coffee--and the list goes on.  Guess what?

All we need is our mind (God gave us that!), our Bible, a notebook, and a pen.  Maybe a few well-sharpened pencils.  Are you serious?  It's that easy?  No way.  Yes--and WAY! And, I know this because God used Glenna to remind us.  "...for the Bible tells me so!"

We open our minds (and hearts) to what He wants us to know--which is in His word.  We pray for His discernment and freedom from distraction.  We learn His story.  We write what we learn about Him. What we learn about man.  How this passage or chapter points us to Christ.  It's about Him.  We learn about Him by spending time with Him.  He reveals His character to us.  And, you know what can happen?  

As we know more about Him, we love Him more deeply.  As I am prone to say of myself, "Well, big bag of duh, Sister!"

Mind blown.  Heart won.

To Be Continued...