Festoon God … with garlands of glory

God is God, he has bathed us in light. Festoon the shrine with garlands, hang colored banners above the altar.

Psalm 118:27 (The Message)

This year my girlfriends and I embarked on a journey into the light. It was our aim to make the truths of the Bible real and personal, so we grabbed Jen Hatmaker’s A Modern Girls Guide to Bible Study, and eagerly devoured its principles.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love a good Christian book, and a well-written Bible study, and I am no stranger to devotionals. After all, I am writing one. However I, the writer, benefit far more than you, the reader. Falling in love with God’s word for yourself is an entirely different matter.  

We knew it would take a great deal of bathing in God’s light. We understood that the washing with water through the word was part of Jesus’ plan to cleanse the church (Ephesians 5:25-26). We figured we couldn’t just wade in gingerly. This kind of study required us to jump off the high board. So jump we did, into the deep end.   

Believe me, all those athletes who vigorously trained for the winter Olympics this year looked forward to a gold medal. In the first Olympics the prize was a wreath of wild-olive leaves, aptly described by a Greek general of the day as a prize of “virtue, not of possessions” or else it would have been gold (Wikipedia).

The language of The Message transports us back into those times of virtue and honor. To be festooned meant to be adorned with a garland of leaves or ribbons or flowers. In short order we came to see that this bathing in the light of God would enable us to spontaneously festoon the Father with garlands of praise and glory in our lives.  

To this end, we girls issue a personal invitation to you to be bathed in the light of God’s word. You will not only get to know Jesus more intimately, but you will also better discern the will of the Father as you respond to the nudges of the Spirit. We were sorry we waited so long.

Oh yes, did I mention you’ll need a journal? Thoughts flowing through fingers became more sharply ours, especially as the Holy Spirit caught ahold of them. We slowed down. We processed better when we wrote. We became immersed in conversation with God. 

Nancy P