[sunday meditations]

me and my weekend buddies

The wind's tearing at the windows here in Blue Ash and snow's dizzyingly falling. It's 10:30 and I've got a midnight drive on roads caked in black ice and freezing rain, and I'm definitely not looking forward to it. I am looking forward to crawling into bed with my space heater blasting and enjoying tomorrow's day off work: cleaning, running errands, and hanging out with my little sister (while doing laundry at her place).

This week has been surprisingly hectic, in so many ways, and now that it's coming to a close, my mind feels numb and dumb. I've done way too much thinking, and I'm eager to just shut my brain down and enjoy the peace and quiet of a blank slate as I teeter on the edge of sleep. Usually I have a "Sunday Meditation" already hammered out and ready to post, but that's not the case this week, and I've been trying to piece together some "Barnhart Words of Wisdom" (ha! as if), but nothing seems to be coming. Perhaps the blank slate is dawning a little earlier this evening?

Okay, here's something.

I've been considering taking a passage of scripture and making it a "passage of the year" or something of that nature, a passage to memorize, consistently come back to, meditate on and pray over, and really let it just sink into my life. I've been thinking about this for a while now, and Colossians 3.1-17 is the passage I've been thinking of running with. Paul paints a portrait of what the Christian life, both as individuals and as a community, should look like: putting to death all that belongs to the "old life," embracing all aspects of the "new life," and living in community.

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things--anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

It's a beautiful passage, and so far as meditation goes, you'd do well to ignore anything in regular type and just focus on that which is italicized in this post.

The wind's howling and the snow's raging.

Fingers crossed for a safe drive home tonight.

I've got my Neuro Sleep to "take me away" once I reach my front door.