Familiarity...

I am doing a Beth Moore Bible study called Knowing God. 3 of us started it with Sandy and she made us promise each of us would finish it, so I am plugging along. I sat down to begin the other day and it was time to look up a page full of scriptures that told about the miracles of Jesus. Many of these were very familiar stories and so Beth cautioned us with this simple admonition...

Do not let familiarity cheat you!

For some reason, that quote stood out in emblazened letters to me and the truth of what it was saying began to seep in.

Whether scripturally speaking or in life in general, we all stand to allow familiarity to cheat us from all He has to share with us. Whether it is skimming over a well known passage and missing a nugget He has for us...whether it is in the incessant talking of our children that we find ourselves tuning out on occasion as a means of maintaining sanity...or whether it is the patterns of marriage we find ourselves following blindly along in until we have nearly lost our way...we let familiarity cheat us at times!

We think we know what to expect so we push auto pilot and do not fully engage in the life that is going on around us. How many times have I cheated myself or cheated someone I love because I allowed familiarity to blind me? Oh that I would see each day and each moment as a fresh opportunity to engage with my family, engage with my friends and engage with the one Who gives me my next breath.

Familiarity can be a gift. It can be a comfort to really know those we interact with and engage with on a daily basis. It can create a sense of peace to be known and know fully in intimate ways, but it can also create opportunities for the nuances of life to become overlooked.

Father, I thank you for this life You have given me and for the people I get to share it with. I am blessed beyone my wildest dreams. I do desire though, Papa, to stay fully engaged...first and foremost with You so that I would not miss anything You would have to show me! I also don't want to cheat myself and cheat those I love by operating on auto-pilot because the terrain is so familiar that it does not require my full attention. Please keep me from allowing familiarity to cheat me from anything You would have for me!