goal

The only goal I usually set for summer is “Spend as much time outside as possible.” Wisconsin is beautiful, but it’s cold here most of the year. Spring in Milwaukee is really the wet, cold, windy, rainy season because the Lake. Summer doesn’t really happen until, well, the first day of summer. I don’t want anything else on my to-do list but to enjoy it.

But this summer, I set a goal to read the Bible. Not just read it every day but to reread the entire Bible. I’ve read cover to cover several times, but it’s been a while. I’ve gotten away from my daily time in Scripture as I’ve read other books devotionally in the morning.

I’ve been feeling spiritually dry. I can see it in my writing and worship leadership. Like my depression, I can often hide this well. But I know the truth. So, this summer, I am returning to the well.

The Bible is my first love. When I recommitted to my faith, I started by just reading the Bible. Then I started volunteering everywhere to figure out what being a Christian means for me. Who knew that nine years later I’d be an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament. I guess God knew. God has a good sense of humor.

The Bible is a dangerous book. It changed my life in ways I wasn’t asking for. It challenges me in ways I don’t want to be challenged. It also loves me in ways I need to be loved. The book, of course, isn’t what does all these things. It’s God who speaks through words on a page, digging through my humanity to tend the holy buried deep inside of me.

My goal this summer is to reread the Bible. What the result will be is yet to be revealed.

My soul clings to the dust;
  revive me according to your word. – Psalm 119:25 (NRSV)

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It’s Friday and that means a five-minute free-write on today’s word. Find out what others are saying about goal here.