Sunday, January 09, 2005

NIV at MCC

Taking memory verses with me to work has been a good decision. Not only do I have eight hours to devote to one verse, but that time also forces me to really ponder the concept behind the words. It's been cool. For example, the other night I had Matthew 6:34: 'Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own'. Now, for people like me who have grown up in the church or for anyone who has been a Christian for many years, it often happens that verses and scriptural truths can become just words. You hear them over and over, and eventually they lose their meaning for you, just like a cliche. But when you have nothing to do but look at a few sentences for hours on end (me), it kind of forces you out of that mode of thinking.

Concerning this particular verse, I realized that there is a concept very much like it in DBT. It is called Mindfulness. It's about redirecting your mind to the thing at hand when you start to wander and get anxious about stuff that's not Now. Mindfulness mirrors Matthew 6:34 to a tee! It isn't just that there are all these cliche-d concepts only found in Scripture, but you can find biblical truths all over in your everyday world. I think it's exciting because understanding that brings the Bible out of 100AD and into 2005. When that happens, people listen.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jenni I really could learn a thing or two from you. Getting into the Bible and spending time with God daily has always been a weakness of mine. Good to see it can be done- feeling pretty encouraged.
Love ya and was thinking about you!
Melissa