OPEN

Shopping online has become quite a popular thing in our household. How easy it is to tap the computer key or my phone app and within seconds have the promise of my needed items arriving at my doorstep within days. No pushing through crowds, waiting in lines, spending energy and time. Yes and thank you!

But the asking for my item is just the beginning! Once I get the item, it's up to me to open the package. How ridiculous it would be to put the package on my table and never open it. I haven't really received it until I take the necessary steps to break into the box or envelope and pull out what's inside! Then! Yes, then I have received it.

Receiving from God is something just like that. God has much to give us! Much to show us! Much to pour into us. But the only way to receive what He's got for us is to OPEN. 

• Open our hearts.  It's always the first step with God. Even right from the beginning. Our salvation experience is simply us turning our faces to Him,  opening our hearts to Him, putting our trust in Him. Why would we think this first step would change? It will always be the way. 

• Open our schedules. Time is money, they say! It's precious! And sometimes it just doesn't feel like we have even a minute to take with God. We put Him off like a guest sitting in our living room, waiting for a conversation with us. We see Him in there, but rush past Him saying, "Just a moment, please." He's happy to patiently wait. But when we do sit down and start to chat, we find such delight that we realize our day would take on such a different pace if we made this conversation first instead of last. 

• Open the Word. God talks to us in all different ways. He talks to us in whispers (or sometimes shouts!) deep in our hearts. He talks to us through conversations we have with other people. He talks to us through metaphors in well pretty much anything really...nature, our children, our jobs... God loves a good analogy and He'll take even making pancakes a Kingdom metaphor and turn it into a teachable moment! But there's one place He will ALWAYS speak to us: through His Word, the Bible. When we read it, it comes alive to us because it is the LIVING Word. The Bible is not just a history book, it is our Life Companion, our Bread, our Compass. And the more we read it, the more delicious and exciting it becomes. The devil and the world have tried to convince people that it is boring or hard to understand. But like my stepdad used to say, "Consider the source." Consider who's saying it! If the devil and the world only have bad things to say about the Bible, then it's probably something we should look into for ourselves! It's probably just as amazing as God says it is!

So OPEN today. Open up your heart, your schedule and your Bible. Open to the relationship that God has always wanted with you. He is your Father, your Friend, your Creator. He is the One that has been tapping you on the shoulder this whole time. All He has been looking for is for you to simply open the packages that have been delivered to your doorstep.