TAKE FIVE: LIFE

Record the five main takeaways God taught you through the group session and personal studies this week. You may want to choose one truth from each day, or certain days may have been especially meaningful to you.

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Just as each person’s hand is created in the same way but has unique fingerprints, God’s Word remains the same, but each person hears and applies it in specific ways at different seasons in his or her life. Your DNA, the shape of your ear, the pattern in the iris of your eye, the combination of your physical features, the stride of your walk are all unique to you as an individual. You’re skillfully and wonderfully made—one of a kind. But the common bond we all share as human beings is that we’re created in the image of God.

In the movie business the phrase “Take five” means to take a short break of approximately five minutes. As you complete this study, it’s important that you take a break, not just to relax from studying but to reflect on what you’ve been studying. Don’t rush through the content each week. Pause to consider some key takeaways. What are the main truths you need to retain in order to have a good grasp of each week’s topic? What was most significant? What challenged, convicted, or encouraged you?

This time can be as brief or as long as you need it to be. The aim is to identify truths you don’t want to forget—truths you want to take with you when you move on to the next part of this study and, most important, to the next phase of your life.

Look at the natural world around you. God’s fingerprints are all over it:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. - PSALM 19:1-5

Read Psalm 19 in your Bible. Let it guide a time of prayerful reflection.