Okay, raise your hand if you read from Genesis 1 and/or Matthew 1 today. Yeah, me too. Now raise your hand if you vowed that this year, finally, you will actually stay more or less on schedule with your daily readings and finish the whole Bible in one year. Again, me too.
I’m not big on resolutions, in January or any other time, but something about the expanse of clean white pages on the calendar beckons to me each year and makes me think, “Yes! THIS is the year I will meditate reflectively on Leviticus, write my own personally meaningful paraphrases of the Psalms, and research key words from the original Greek.”
Instead, I stay more or less on track through Israel’s slog to the promised land (which seems to make never-ending winter seem even longer) and the adventures of David only to lose steam in the summer and end the year hopelessly behind. (I’m still on August 25 for my 2006 schedule.)
I know that the point is not to check off daily readings but to actually spend time with God, and since that happened more often than not in 2006 I don’t feel particularly guilty about not finishing the whole thing. I do wish I could find a yearly reading plan that begins in Revelation and Malachi, though. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to those.
2 Comments »
Leave a comment
Jennifer Taylor
My Other Sites
Twittering @seejenwrite- seejenwrite: Looking forward to hearing @susanisaacs and @donmilleris tonite. Flexing my fingers in preparation for copious note-taking.
- seejenwrite: Buying tix for trip to Orlando in January!
- seejenwrite: Here are my thoughts about the Twilight craze, from earlier this year: http://ow.ly/E3Vc
- seejenwrite: @FlowerDust See you there!
Hi Jen,
I started reading the One Year Bible mid-year in ‘06 and only missed a handful of days. Ironically, the days I missed were over the Christmas holidays as that’s when my “routine” got messed up by time off and family.
One thing that helped me stay consistent was my accountability partner. Though we’re seperated by hundreds of miles, we have daily contact via email. After my devo every morning, I write out what I learned, a little application, what’s going on in my life, etc, and shoot it off to him. He does likewise. This is also a form of “journaling” and the only form of journaling I’ve ever been able to stick with.
Finally, this has not just been a ritual or something to “check off”, this has been a daily time spent with God. This new discipline has changed me like few other things (and I’m 46 years old).
My advice is to get a partner and stick with it.
Reading through the Bible in a year is a admiral goal for everyone to shoot for. I had a great sense of accomplishment on December 31, 2006 after completing The Daily Bible-In Chronological Order, 365 Daily Readings (for the first time after over 45 years as a Christian!). So much so that I decided to take on The Lookouts 2007 Bible Reading Plan. I think there are enough different reading plans out there that I should be able to do this for years to come. I’ve found that often times my reading serves as a springboard into further study of a topic or incident. Other benefits include becoming more familiar with God’s Word and having God speak to me through a portion of his word as if I had never seen it before. It’s time I look forward to every morning. Now if I could only develop the same discipline in my walking!