Throughout this year, you will have the opportunity to connect with a parade of characters from our Scriptures.  Some will be well-known, others new to you.  One of the greatest challenges to truly reading and studying these stories is to hear them at a deeper level than before.  For example, the story of Cain and Abel.  Have you heard the story?  For a moment, write down what you remember about the story of these siblings.

Often, we remember snapshots of these stories whether through art, or a distant sermon or bible study, and through time the actual story gets hazy.  Today, let’s start by reading the story of the first siblings shared in the scriptures.  Read Genesis 4:1-16.

Now that you have read it, review what you had written previously.  How close is your recollection to the story at hand?  For a moment, I want to invite you to try to extrapolate the moral (s) of the story.  What would you write?  What questions are raised for you in this story?  The goal is rumination—the rehearsing of the story in the mind, down into the heart, until it reaches the soul.  Rumination allows levels of meaning and understanding.  And rumination takes time!  So, spend some time contemplating what the heart of the story is all about!