Yes, I Started Ezekiel

I struggled with my Bible reading this morning.  Yes, I started Ezekiel.  I should have prepared and prayed but I’ve been busy with work and the podcast and it snuck up on me.  I was distracted by anticipation of leaving to visit my daughter and I admit I was barely engaged. 

Ezekiel is tough for me.  It’s so full of those images that make no physical sense.  I tried to start reading it without helps, but was going nowhere.  How could I have read this so many times and still have to get helps just to get started?

Anyway, I Googled ‘creatures in Ezekiel’ and there they were!  Myriad interpretations of the descriptions of this four-headed, winged creature that moves in all directions on some wheel-within-a-wheel apparatus covered with eyes.  Oh dear.  One article stated that these were manifestations of God.  I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I definitely plan to chase that rabbit during tomorrow morning’s reading. 

I felt guilty at first because I never want my quiet time to be a check off item.  But as I ruminated about it during my long drive, it occurred to me that everyone must have those days.  Sometimes distracted, sometimes just being human.  I always find comfort in the fact that I may not have ‘gotten it’ this year, but I’ll have a whole new opportunity to read it again. 

How about you?  What do you do?  How do you encourage yourself to get past the stuff that you just don’t get?  I hope you share your comments below or at Lifting Her Voice.com.