21 June 2011

slow-learner

I walked outside the bookstore following a man I had just met. His wife and I sparked up a conversation inside and he asked if he could steal 4 minutes of my time. The fact he asked if he could steal my time struck me, so after announcing to a few friends we were stepping out, he simply starred me down for an uncomfortably long period of time.

"I came here to Colorado to share my story," he began. "You see, I always thought I had to be like everyone else. learn the same way, read the same amount in the Bible to grow with God. But I couldn't do that!"

He began tossing a pin up into the air repetitively. His catching was not very good. After the pen hit the ground a few times, he continued tossing it up into the air and said, "you see, i figure if i throw this pen like a fool, maybe you'll remember what I'm sharing!" He was right!

Tossing-pen guy wanted to share what he had learned over the past few years. That he didn't have to read chapters or books of the Bible at one time to grow in the Lord, but he could read small portions. Maybe 5 verse chunks and meditate on it for the day. He finally felt free from feeling like he had to read as if in a sprint, and could study at a pace fit for him.


I love that Robert Robinson was 22 when he wrote the words, "Come Thou Fount of every blessing; Tune my heart to sing Thy grace" When I think of tuning I think of a long process. One small tweak and everything is off! When I was a child, we had a piano. My parent's hated having to tune it because it was so expensive to have someone come out to fix it! Every note, every key had to be tuned to perfection. It wasn't good enough to have one note off.

Tuning my heart to God's is a very long process too. God is not pleased with the majority of my heart being ok. He wants and deserves my all. I think I'm a slow learner when it comes to understanding aspects of God's love and grace. I'm a slow learner at times in receiving the things He'd love to give to me. But my heart is being tuned, and I can't wait to hear the beautiful melodies in heaven.

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