The title of Day 1 is actually "Abraham-the Need of a Covenant Partner," and in the end I think it's all coming together in my head. I must admit at first, though, that I didn't exactly understand how it was all going to fit. I thought the focus was on being poor in spirit and how God's desire is to bless those who are poor in spirit. What I really wanted to get out of it was what it means to be poor in spirit or how I can be poor in spirit so that I can receive God's intended blessings.
Because this is a study of the Beatitudes, found in Matthew, I was a little surprised that we immediately began in Genesis looking at Abram's relationship with God the father. But I think I'm putting the pieces together.
1. I think I probably knew what beatify meant at some point in my life, but I guess it never stuck. I most definitely want to be made supremely blissful. That word blissful isn't a word I would say described me, but I want it to.
2. To be poor in spirit means, at this point, to me that I have to be at a point where I know that I need The Lord. I can't live my life on my own. It's not a one time feeling, either.
3. God desires me to live in a covenant relationship with Him. To get to this point I have to understand what a covenant really is. What I have to do now is pray about how to live in this covenant everyday....it took Abraham 75 years to figure it out. God didn't give up on him and I have to trust that he won't give up on me.
I'm not sure how all of this is going to play out over the next four lessons, but I look forward to seeing what all God has in store.
from "Renewing the Heart...for Women" by Barbara Henry
