I’m going to admit I have certain issues with reading the Bible. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing it. I am just not very disciplined about it. I have started several reading plans only to fail miserably three weeks in. See, I’m easily. . . distracted. Yeah, I know. Everyone is. But it isn’t the five kids, nor the dogs, nor the homeschooling, nor the moving, nor even Twitter. It is the Bible itself. I start to read but then I read the notes, follow cross references, and look things up. Before you know it, I’m quite literally lost in the Word. My plan says to read the first three chapters of Genesis and somehow I end up in Isaiah after detouring through Psalms and Matthew.
And then I fall behind. And then I get discouraged. And then I give up. I don’t know why publishers put those annoying dates at the top of their reading plans. If I get off by more than a few days, the sense of defeat inevitably leads me to throw in the towel. So I decided to stop worrying about it, and while most plans I find online have dates attached, I seem to do OK, so long as I trim them off.
So you’d think I’d be bright enough to pass on the Bible in 90 Days thing, wouldn’t you?
Apparently not.
And I have fallen behind. A whole book, actually, but for some reason it isn’t bothering me that much. Part of me doesn’t really believe I’m going to come in anywhere close to the 90 day goal, and the other part of me seems to be OK with that for the moment. So I continue to plod along and have made a couple of discoveries.
Sixteen chapters at a time is an aggressive goal. I want to finish so concentrate and use what little discipline I have to keep going. I do not pause to reflect, I ask myself few questions and hence I do not flip around through the entire bible. It keeps me on track with the schedule, but I haven’t decided yet how I feel about “just” reading. Many people I chat with online have expressed excitement over what God will reveal to them through this challenge, and I’m afraid I will be too busy reading to notice His prompting.
Not skipping around means I’m on task. It means that I don’t look at the clock and shake my head before laying my bible aside to go do whatever is next for the day. It means I don’t respond as quickly to distractions because my goal is right there in front of me. It means I don’t respond as quickly to the children’ squabbles, and leave them to sort themselves out a little before I intervene.
And they notice. And Bug crawls in my lap to just sit for awhile before inquiring,
Mommy, will you read to me?
And for four chapters, I had the attention of all of my children for a longer reading than I have ever tried to impose on them just because they wanted to know what I was doing that whole time.
So I keep plodding on, thinking maybe this isn’t so bad after all.
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That would be quite enough to keep me going.
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Sounds like you’re doing great!
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I am an absolute believer in doing whatever works for you. I saw the Bible in 90 Days and thought it was great to see such a challenge, because most people never read the Bible through from cover to cover even once. Do we treat any other books like that and expect to gain anything from them?
I divide my Bible time into reading (early in the morning before the family regains consciousness) and study (in the afternoon). When I’m reading I keep Post-It Notes handy to jot things down for study later so I can stay on track with my reading. I do get quite a bit out of ‘just reading’ first thing in the morning- it’s like taking a shower, and study is like soaking in the tub. You get benefits from both.
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I will definitely admit that I haven’t been very disciplined about doing any sort of study since Christmas. This indefinite and constant move date looming just ahead of us seems to have taken a toll on my concentration.
And Susan, I’m so happy to see you blogging again! I can’t wait to catch up reading your blog, too!
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I am so glad you decided to give it a try and join us in reading the Bible in 90 days!
Yes, this approach to the Bible is very different than many of us have learned to take. But I bet you’ll find yourself pondering it all more and more as you make your way through. And after you finish.
I will tell you that every study I took and every sermon I heard after reading the Bible in 90 days the first time meant so much more to me.
And that is my prayer for you. You can do this, even if you slip back. Just don’t slip too far. And you will be rewarded with a greater understanding.
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I’m so impressed with you people who are trying to do the whole Bible in only 90 days! I’m trying to do just the Old Testament, this year. I still feel overwhelmed – for all the reasons that you mentioned. I too tend to get sidetracked, trying to understand the bit I just read, or I get caught up in some aspect of the Gospel that I’d never considered in that way before… yeah. Reading the whole thing is a HUGE project. That’s really cool that your children came to see what was going on that was so important. What a lovely unexpected benefit! I know at my house, the questions about what it means, the explaining the difficult words, it would slow the project down considerably, but it’d sure be hard to complain about that – even if it didn’t get finished “on time.” Keep going; sounds like you’re onto something wonderful!
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I have to give my parents credit for my Bible reading habits. I started reading the Bible through every year when I was 8, along with reading commentaries by such authors as Oliver B. Greene and Dr. Peter Ruckman. I’ve done various schedules, from reading the Bible through once a month for a year (that was HARD) to reading it every 90 days. I doubt I would have the discipline for that if my parents weren’t such sticklers about helping me form good reading habits.
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That would be helpful. I’ve read it through, I’m just not good at staying with the schedule. I wasn’t raised Christian, however, so bible reading wasn’t really important.
i took a class and then another class but the group experience of reading and discussing the orevious reading was exciting. we learned together and i stayed interested enough to go through the whole book.
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