Summer Reading: Devotional Classics

As I've said in the past, "Being a teacher has its perks." One of them being the summer in which school's out and we're free to lounge poolside sipping on virgin piña coladas. Oh, the picture of an almost perfect day. And by almost perfect, I simply mean that it would be perfect if I had my husband by my side and of course, a good book.

You will know this if you are a teacher, but just because we're on vacation doesn't mean we no longer have responsibilities. Even while on summer vacation the drudgery that comes along with making the bed, doing laundry and washing dishes follows. Thankfully though, there is just a little more time to do everything.

And with that excess time comes a great danger. The temptation to dwindle away the days in those things that may very well be fun but perhaps offer little sustenance in the long haul. For that reason, I have asked the Lord to help me use my time wisely this summer. At the end of August I want to be able to look back and see exactly where I invested my time and not regret wasting a single second.

With that prayer, came the opportunity for growth. Just yesterday I picked up another one of my hubby's books. This one he purchased at the suggestion of one of his professors. It is titled, Devotional Classics and is edited by Richard J. Foster whose book, Celebration of Discipline, I credit to helping change my life. I thought it particularly fascinating that even seminary students are encouraged to read a devotional. I don't know if I'm the only one, but having 66 books in the bible to choose from can represent a challenge for me on more than one occasion. "Where should I start today? How many verses or chapters should I read? What book has to do with what I am feeling right now? Which character in the bible could I best relate to at this very moment in my life?" Those are just a few of the questions I ask myself when grabbing my hardcover NLT Women's Devotional Bible in my hand. However, after Day 2, I am convinced that picking up my hubby's seminary devotional is almost as if I had discovered gold during the California Gold Rush. I'm relishing in the words of these great men of the faith and waiting expectantly on what the Lord will do in me.

"Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God's overriding goveranance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring." - Dallas Willard