As we meditate on God's Word, we grow, and those moments of stillness focused on the truth impact all the other moments in our busy and full lives.

Moments of Stillness Focused on the Truth

Posted on by Michele Morin

Words have the ability to change our lives. It’s no accident, then, that Jesus is referred to as “the Word,” and I have to believe that if God had wanted to communicate with us through video, he’d have found a way to do it. Instead, he has chosen to speak to us in written words.

As an avid reader, that suits me just fine. Even before I came to The Word, it was always words that caught my attention, stopped me in my tracks, and inspired me to long for a better me. First as a teen and then as a young woman, I absorbed fictional conversations and read and re-read the inner dialogue of characters I admired. As a tired mother of four energetic males, I spent evenings in quiet reading and let words breathe fresh oxygen into my weary brain. During one of our church’s extended pastoral searches, I turned to Father Tim* and the Reverend John Ames** for steady inspiration while our pulpit stood empty.

Author Rebecca Hastings is clearly a kindred spirit, for she, too, has been changed by story and inspired by the fictional lives of people on the page. With Scripture as her plumb line, she meditates on God’s Word for peace of soul, and finds clarity and encouragement in other reading as well. In Daily Meditations for Christians: A Year of Quotes, Reflections, and Scriptures, she brings together the inspired Truth, a short quote from a work of fiction, and then reinforces the day’s thought with a prayer or reflection.

When the psalmist wrote, “How I love your instruction!
It is my meditation all day long,” he was speaking from the richness of a contemplative life. Fast forward to 2020, and we are much too practical to read simply for the good of our souls. Instead, we pile up self-help books and follow Facebook links to explore promises of a thinner body or a fatter bank account.

Hastings has created this resource with her readers in mind. The topical index reveals that she covered more than fifty themes, while a look at the Scripture index shows that the daily meditations dip into forty-nine of the Bible’s sixty-three books.  An unexpected bonus was the discovery of some Christian authors who were unfamiliar to me! You may find that your TBR list grows as you read the short excerpts from inspirational fiction.

When we spend time immersed in Scripture, we reshape our thinking. Drawing close to the heart of God, we find our only sure hope is based on his character and in his deep and abiding love for us. As we meditate on God’s Word, we grow, and those moments of stillness focused on the truth impact all the other moments in our busy and full lives. Daily Meditations for Christians is an invitation to ponder inspiring words and to be changed by the Living Word.

Many thanks to Rockridge Press for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.

Grace and peace to you,

michele signature[1]

*Father Tim is the fictional Episcopal priest from Jan Karon’s Mitford series.

**The Reverend John Ames is the elderly pastor from Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. If you should decide to purchase Daily Meditations for Christians: A Year of Quotes, Reflections, and Scriptures, simply click on the title or the image, and you’ll be taken directly to Amazon. If you decide to buy, I’ll make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Subscribe to Living Our Days to get regular content delivered to your inbox. Just enter your e-mail address in the field at the top of this page.

Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash

Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a teacher, blogger, reader, and gardener who finds joy in sitting at a table surrounded by women with open Bibles. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty years, and together they have four sons, two daughters-in-love, three grandchildren, and one lazy St. Bernard. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook or Twitter.

39 thoughts on “Moments of Stillness Focused on the Truth”

  3. I enjoy reading Rebecca’s thoughts on life and faith. Thank you for this good review. I think it was aimed at people who love to read, a wisw choice! 🙂

    Like

  7. I’ve read a few of Rebecca’s meditations so far, and can’t wait to dig in! Sounds like it would be so encouraging for our present days of stress. ❤ I appreciate your faithful witness on this page, friend. Blessings.

    Like

  13. Hello Michele, I loved your words about when reading scripture it’s “Drawing close to the heart of God, we find our only sure hope is based on his character and in his deep and abiding love for us” so true, and more so now with so many uncertainty. But in midst of that same uncertainty is Jesus and his open arms to comfort us. I’m visiting from Welcome Heart linkup(I’m on pg 2). Praying you,your family and readers continue to be well and safe. ❤

    Like

  14. Hello Michele, I loved your words about when reading scripture it’s “Drawing close to the heart of God, we find our only sure hope is based on his character and in his deep and abiding love for us” so true, and more so now with so many uncertainty. But in midst of that same uncertainty is Jesus and his open arms to comfort us. I’m visiting from Welcome Heart linkup(I’m on pg 2). Praying you,your family and readers continue to be well and safe. ❤

    Like

  15. I knew the name “Father Tim” sounded familiar! Jan Karon is one author very adept at weaving wisdom into her stories. (Father Tim and his wife Cynthia can even quote the likes of Longfellow, Goethe, and Pascal!) I’ve also read Robinson’s books, taking special note (as a retired pastor’s wife) of her understanding of parsonage life. You do have me curious, Michele, what other authors Rebecca has included in her book, and what wisdom she highlights.

    Like

    1. We share a lot of books in common, Nancy. And I was thinking yesterday that it’s been AGES since I cracked open a Jan Karon novel. Maybe these days of isolation will lead to that? I’m re-reading one of Elisabeth Elliot’s books and one of Eugene Peterson’s as well, and finding comfort in my old friends.

      Like

  17. Hi Michele! I’ve been out of the loop with extra editing work. It is so fun to see what you’re reading today. I love devotionals like this one. This format is a great way to be introduced to new authors. Thanks so much for sharing this.

    Like

  18. As an avid reader, friend, Michele, you’re going to want to hop over to our Instagram tomorrow and enter the Stay at Home Giveaway—we’re giving away a small Christian library, Seriously. 13 books! If you win, you’re going to need to buy a new bookshelf! And honestly, when we were putting this together, you came to mind! 🙂 AND, Rebecca’s Daily Meditations is one of them!!!

    Thank you for linking up at InstaEncouragements!

    Like

  20. Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too! Pleas stay safe and healthy. Come party with us at Over The Moon! Catapult your content Over The Moon! @marilyn_lesniak @EclecticRedBarn

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too! Pleas stay safe and healthy. Come party with us at Over The Moon! Catapult your content Over The Moon! @marilyn_lesniak @EclecticRedBarn .

    Liked by 1 person

  22. There’s something about the written word that just can’t transpire across any other media in the way it does in printed format. I agree, it has a way of washing over us, giving inner peace and stillness. Thank you for joining us for the #DreamTeamLinky.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. We all have extra time on our hands now so what better opportunity to review our faith and actions and appreciate what is important in our lives. Thanks for linking up with #globalblogging

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.