When Grandma Made Me Mad

James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to one another so, in the hope that the recognition of my failings might help someone else, here goes ...

Combine a love of reading with a love of comics and what do you get? Someone who runs to get the Sunday newspaper off the driveway, hungry to devour the extra-special Sunday comics. Not only are there more of them than their less special weekday counterparts, but they are longer and in color!  Who can resist, right? Enter—Grandma (or Cookie Grandma, as my boys named her).

Wouldn't you know it? Grandma had to put a damper on my Sunday fun. As I reveled in my special treat, she softly ventured, "Janine, do you think it's right to read the funnies before you read the Bible? Do you think that is pleasing to the Lord?"

"It's just funnies, Grandma," I shot back, irritated. Can't a girl have any fun????

But her words hit me in my spiritual solar plexus and wouldn't let go. I was experiencing firsthand the benefits of the wounds of a friend (see Proverbs 27:6). Loving correction can be a spiritual lifesaver.

In this case, I began to realize the worth of Grandma's words. Yes, I loved God. Yes, I read the Bible in the morning before most of my daily activities and last thing at night. But little by little the niggling feeling that maybe Grandma was on to something grew to the point that I surrendered. I gave up fighting the guilt her words had began to wager against me. Verse after verse about seeking God early made me see that while leisure reading was okay, I should read God's words first.

And so began a lifelong habit of reading the Bible before reading anything else. However, there is such a thing as following the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law.

Why is it that we should read God's Word first? To seek Him, to hear from Him, to show Him that we put Him first. But little by little something happened in my life. I love reading so much that while I did read His Word first, I searched for ways to read for pleasure during the day in a much greater capacity than I sought Him.

I bet I hold the world record for creative ways to read. I figured out how to prop my book (later my device) in such a way that I could roll out homemade flour tortillas and read. Bathing, ironing, washing dishes, piece of cake. Where there's a will, there's way. I could read anywhere, anytime. Then, little by little, even though Grandma was no longer around to center me, I began to be a little uncomfortable about the time I spent reading versus the time spent connecting with God during the day. I was following the letter of the law, but the spirit? By marginalizing the time with God to solely the times set apart for Him, I was effectively allowing reading for pleasure to take over my life.

I knew it was time to make a new determination. I needed to redirect at least some of the daily times I normally dedicated to pleasure reading to something that would center me on the Lord.

Though my reading material is wholesome and many times leads me to reflection on God's Word and has even started me on rabbit trails of Bible study, I needed to be as diligent to allow "free" time to think about the Lord during my daily tasks as I did reading. Praying while I went about my daily activities, in times past, had actually ushered in holy times of experiencing God's presence in a very special way. Guiltily, I realized that instead of praying while I performed my run of the mill daily tasks, I now invariably propped my reading material in a manner that allowed me to read while I attended to each and every task. Where had those uber-special times with the Lord once experienced during the day gone? In the smoke of leisure reading.

Well did Paul say, "Covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31). Reading the Bible is good. Spending time in prayer is great. But if our attention is completely fixed on the cares and business of this world throughout the day, never giving leeway to times of meditation ... the benefit from seeking God early in the morning ends up diminished.

It was time for a change, Grandma style. Now,  outside the normal time I dedicate to Bible reading and prayer, I discipline myself to center on God at different times during the day while I work. And, wouldn't you know it? I have again begun to experience some of those glorious-but-long-gone times with the Lord during the course of what had become humdrum days.

Grandma had it right—pleasing God should be foremost in our lives. He should be sought first not only at the start of our day but also throughout it. It is not wrong to watch a TV show. It is not wrong to read a book for pleasure. It is not wrong to exercise, cook, sit on the back porch and rest. All that is well and good. Even Jesus told His disciples to step back and rest (Mark 6:31). But ... integrating seeking Him during the course of our every day activities,  that is excellent!

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:11).

"I love them that love me: and those that seek me early shall find me" (Proverbs 8:17).