Hearing His Voice

I am writing today from Lynchburg as I sit in Audrey's kitchen. She and Miranda have gone to work and soon I am leaving for Charlottesville and a book festival. Excited to go somewhere new and learn whatever is there today for me.

Books have always been an important part of my life. Reading provides such a great opportunity to stretch your mind and to walk in someone else's shoes. Last year I was interviewed  for a research project about families of gays and lesbians. -At one point I was asked  "how did I come to my understandings about homosexuality?" And I realized that so many of my opinions have been formed by the reading I did as a young woman. Not just reading the Bible, but literature, non fiction and memoirs.  It is reading that  deepens my understanding of the world, other people,  and my self

As we drove here yesterday we were listening to a book on tape, "The Boys on the Boat " which is about a crewing team from Seattle that won the Olympics in the thirties.
 And I just keep learning about what I did not know about so many things.

 I come to the word of God this morning and read some familiar words
"create in me a new heart" and "put a new and right spirit within me." (Psalm 51).  I recognize that growth often comes through learning.  And learning comes through effort and desire. And Books.

So my prayer for today is that I will be open to  new understandings so that there might be a new spirit within me. Today.