Taking the Lessons of Lent Into the Rest of the Year

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For many people, the 40 days of Lent prompt resolutions, good intentions, and plans for habits to pick up and habits to drop.  A sign on a Catholic church near my home referred to the Lenten season as a time for “spiritual spring cleaning,” and indeed the word Lent comes from the Germanic word for springtime.  Just as we achieve a sense of spaciousness and freedom by de-cluttering and cleaning our homes, we can de-clutter and cleanse our interior lives to make more space for Christ and the life we are instructed in God’s Word to live for Him. 

If you’re anything like me, though, your plans for Lent feel a bit like New Year’s resolutions, and, sadly, often meet the same fate. Suddenly the 40 days have passed, and as we celebrate the tremendous joy of the Resurrection, we can’t help but feel some regret that we never followed through with our good intentions.

As holy an observance as Lent may be, it is still a man-made construction.  There is no biblical directive to observe Lent, no commandment from God to give up chocolate for 40 days, and no teaching from Jesus to stay off the Internet to spend more time reading scripture.  But the intended purposes of Lent are undeniably beneficial:  using 40 days to set aside distractions, demonstrate penitence for the sins that sent Jesus to the cross, grow closer to God, and prepare our hearts to receive again the tremendous gift of God’s grace and mercy through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Lenten traditions seem to focus especially on fasting, prayer, charity/mercy, and reading the Scriptures.  There is nothing on that list that needs to be left behind when Lent draws to a close!  Rather than feeling that I’ve “lost my chance” to fulfill my Lenten resolutions, I am going to recognize ways to carry those practices and disciplines into my spiritual life for the rest of the year.  Instead of spending just 40 days focusing on how to live more like Christ, allowing God to transform me into the image of His Son (2 Corinthians 3:18), I am going to make it a daily blessing for the rest of the year.  Here are some ideas I’ve had, in case you would like to join me:

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FASTING

Some people observe some form of fasting during Lent, following eating restrictions that are traditional to their denomination.  Others “give up” something that they really enjoy in order to develop self-discipline and share in the sacrificial nature of Jesus’ life and death. 

I know of several people who re-interpreted this idea of “giving up,” and got rid of a bag of “stuff” each day—40 days, 40 bags of stuff removed from their homes.  The items were donated, gifted, recycled, or trashed, as appropriate.  Doing this on a daily basis for the whole year may not be practical, but it is certainly worthwhile to set de-cluttering goals each season.  The activity helps us in our effort to find our security not in things, but in God.  And it helps to create a physical, and even mental, space to concentrate on the non-material world.  When we stop focusing on shopping and bringing more things into our homes and our lives, we lose less time trying to find places for our stuff and less energy keeping it cleaned and maintained, and we open up all sorts of new opportunities to focus on the things of God and all that He has created us to do and to be.

Another type of “fasting” involves giving up a media-related habit:  hours of watching television, checking out Facebook, surfing the Internet, or texting.  Carrying this idea into the rest of the year might involve setting limits for ourselves.  It will be different for every person: perhaps a “power down time” every evening well before bed, a certain number of television programs in a given week, a time limit on computer use or electronic games.  Once we determine our goals for limiting our media habits, we can decide what limits will help us to reach those goals.  Perhaps one person is aiming for more quality time with her family, while another seeks more opportunity to work on a hobby he enjoys, while yet another individual wants a chance to start up a Scripture reading or prayer practice (more on that soon!).  When we decide how much time we want and need to pursue such goals, we can figure out how to reclaim it from the more mindless or pointless activities we’ve been pursuing.

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PRAYER

 

There is no better way to grow closer to God than to spend time in conversation with Him.  Prayer is a completely portable pastime:  it can be done anywhere at any time!  No one has to wait for the season of Lent to begin a prayer practice.  You can begin a conversation with God this very moment.  Some people like to use some sort of prayer tool or system to help them, such as the Five Finger prayer or ACTS.  You may want to create a prayer journal to keep track of the prayer needs of the people in your life, as well as your own praises, confessions, and requests.  A lot of people like to record answers to prayers, too.  In a future post, I’ll share my prayer journal, which has organized and enriched my own prayer practice.

Keeping a gratitude journal can become a form of prayer.  By taking time each day to notice, write down, and thank God for the blessings we’ve encountered over the course of our day, we begin to notice even more blessings, and live in a more positive frame of mind.  As we spend more time and effort focusing on the good things, we will take much less notice of those things that are not quite right.  A gratitude journal can include the simple pleasures in a day; natural wonders that we experience; ongoing blessings we enjoy, such as health, family, work or home; events that stand out from the day; or acts of kindness we encounter.

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CHARITY/MERCY

There is no reason to focus on the needs of others just 40 days out of the year!  We can all benefit from developing a more generous spirit every day of our lives.  Sometimes during Lent, people will try to write a note of encouragement or thanks every day for 40 days, or connect with people in person, or by phone or letter (rather than by email or text).  It may or may not be feasible to maintain this as a daily practice, but it could certainly become a weekly or monthly routine.  It works much like the gratitude journal; as we write letters of thanks, we discover more and more things that we want to thank people for!

Some people engage in Random Acts of Kindness during Lent, finding small, often anonymous, ways to bless people each day.  Internet sites list all kinds of RAKs, like leaving notes (“You are beautiful” or “God loves you!” for example) on the mirrors of public bathrooms, or leaving change in vending machines, or paying for the meal of the car in line behind you at the fast food window.  Even easier are the acts of kindness that show basic human decency and friendliness:  holding the door open for the person coming behind you, smiling as you pass people in public hallways, meeting the eye of the check-out clerk as she hands you your receipt, saying thank you when the server refills your water glass at a restaurant.  How did we get away from treating one another with such basic decency?  It’s a simple fix to get back to it in our own little corner of the universe. 

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READING SCRIPTURE

Some people begin a scripture reading practice, such as reading one of the Gospels over the 40 days of Lent.  This year, I read the Book of John, and really benefitted from my leisurely but focused journey through that Gospel.  I tried a new practice, too, marking up a Bible I had purchased from a store’s going-out-of-business sale.  I used different colored pens to circle, underline, and box in words or phrases that stood out as significant.  It made me notice John’s tremendous attention to time and place, to all the ways that Jesus was identified during his earthly ministry, to all the “audiences” of Jesus’ words and actions and the different ways they responded to him.  I am planning to continue this Bible-marking strategy as I carry my Bible reading beyond Lent.

Just like with prayer, there is no reason to wait for Lent to develop a devotional practice that involves reading scripture.  For our own good, we need to take time each day to re-center our lives on Christ.  A devotional practice includes reading scripture and praying.  It may also involve creating a Bible reflection journal where we write down something important about what we have read; listening to some form of Christian music; or meditating quietly.

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The ideas I have shared here are not a checklist that I intend to hold myself to on a daily basis for the rest of the year.  That approach is likely to leave me worn out, frustrated, and even a little resentful.  Turning these blessings into regimented duties denies the freedom that Christ promises to us through God’s Word.  Rather, I want to invite Christ to direct my life each day, to draw me closer in relationship to Him, and to transform me more fully into the person God has created me to be.  Making space for that relationship, maintaining it through prayer, understanding God’s will through His scriptures, and reaching out to others with the same grace God extends to me will make those things possible. 

When we learn our lessons from Lent, and carry the spirit of the practices into the rest of our year, spiritual renewal becomes a daily blessing.  After all, “God’s mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23).

Hallelujah!  Praise God!

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Please visit The Practical Disciple for more ideas about HOW to encounter God and grow spiritually.  On his site, John Arnold talks about some of the Lenten ideas I've included here, along with many others, as well as additional strategies for practical discipleship throughout the year.

 

Prayer Pots: A Tool for Family/Group Prayer

The girls came out of church on Sunday, each with her own Prayer Pot:

Inside each pot were five craft sticks, labeled with five different things the girls could be praying for:  family, friends, church, missions, and "you" (their own prayer requests and concerns).

When my six-year-old Katy got home, she raided our craft stash and added some additional sticks to her pot:  Grandma, uncles, cat, mom, aunts, dad, sister, cousins, Grandpa.

As I was getting ready for our Living Stones meeting, Katy suggested that we use her prayer pot to help us with our prayer time.  I invited her to explain to the group how it can be used, and then each of us drew a stick from the pot.  We said a sentence or two to pray for the label on our stick, and then named the next person in line (to prevent long and awkward pauses with everyone wondering when it was their turn to pray). 

One of our members suggested that we use that kind of tool in the future, and I think it might be a valuable aid to overcome proseucheglossophobia.  (Be sure to click the link to read about proseucheglossophobia, if you are unfamiliar with the term!)

This prayer tool can be as simple as writing prayer topics on craft sticks and putting them in a plastic cup, or as artsy/craftsy as turning each stick into a spring flower in a decorated pot.  It can be used during children's prayer time before bed, during a weekly family devotion time, or with a group of praying friends.  No one has to wonder what she "should pray for," and everyone can be encouraged to keep his prayer simple and direct so no one feels like prayers need to be flowery (flower pot, notwithstanding!). 

Many thanks to Danielle, our church's Children's Co-Director, who presented this wonderful prayer tool to my children on Sunday, to my daughter Katy for sharing it with our group, and for the women of Living Stones for being willing to try it out during our prayer time together!

If you try this prayer tool with your own family or prayer group, please share with us how it works out for you.

When We Feel Like the Blind Leading the Blind

Today in our Living Stones meeting, we discussed Sally Clarkson’s charge from The Ministry of Motherhood to help our children understand where they fit into God’s plan with their particular personalities, talents, and skills.  We give our children the gift of inspiration, Sally tells us, when we help them hear and respond to God’s call in their lives.  Just as Jesus sent his disciples out into the world to glorify God and make disciples of all people, we have a role to play in creating disciples of our children so that they too will make God known in the world.

But…

Can we really be effective in helping our children understand their role in God’s plan if we are still trying to work out the details of our own role?  Can we help them to understand truths about God and His Word if we are still learning about these things ourselves?  Can we make disciples of our children when we are still in need of discipling for ourselves?

My answer is a resounding YES!

I am always heartened by the reminder that God chooses imperfect and sinful people to share His glory and play a part in His story of redemption.  He did it when He chose the initial twelve disciples, and He continues this method with us today!  He doesn’t appear to expect us to fill the role having it all figured out.  He seems okay with our bumbling efforts to share His love and do our fallible best to live in His will.

When my daughters were two- and three-years old, I knew it was time to get serious and intentional about raising them to know and follow God.  I began daily devotions and prayers with them, which prompted a series of questions from them that I wasn’t particularly prepared to answer.  I consulted books like Focus on the Family’s 801 Questions Kids Ask About God (with answers from the Bible), hoping that it might help me when I got stumped.  I looked in vain for what I should say to a two-year-old asking me, “Where does God live?” and a three-year-old wondering, “Why can’t we see God?”  In a way, their questions were so much more basic than questions of original sin and Immaculate Conception, but on the other hand, they were more complex! Their inquiries set me to thinking and seeking out resources that could help me disciple my children at the same time I was seeking discipleship for myself.

There is ample Biblical evidence to support my conviction that it’s okay not to have all the answers, as long as we are seeking. 

In his letter to the Colossians, the apostle Paul prays that the believers in that church will be “filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1: 9-10)  Is that not a prayer for continued spiritual growth and understanding for both new and established believers? 

The Book of Proverbs is full of admonitions to increase in wisdom and understanding, saying that if we call out for insight and understanding, “if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2: 2-5).  Surely that is not a “one-and-done” experience, but a life-long pursuit.     

It will be a compelling witness for our children to see us on our own path to an ever-stronger and ever-closer relationship with God.  It will provide effective teaching for our children to see us seeking and acquiring knowledge (Proverbs 18:15), rather than acting as though we know it all already.  We can provide powerful testimony to our children that “the unfolding of [God’s] words gives light” (Psalm 119:130).  Unfolding is clearly an ongoing process!

I fully believe that God will bless our efforts to understand our place in His plan, even as we support our children in their search for the same.

It’s a little intimidating to read Sally’s vision for our meeting with God when we make it to heaven.  Will we really stand before Him and be asked:  “What did you do to make me known to the people I brought into your life?”  What we know for sure comes from God’s Word, which tells us:  “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat…So, then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:10b, 12).  These verses offer pretty powerful motivation to give some thought to how we are serving God and telling others about Him with the skills, backgrounds, and personalities He has given us…and pretty powerful motivation to help our children do the same.

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A note regarding the title of this post:

The phrase “the blind leading the blind” comes from the teachings of Jesus, recorded by both Matthew and Luke.  In Matthew’s account, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah to the Pharisees, saying, “You hypocrites!  Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”  Jesus then continues to teach that what goes into our mouths, referring to the food restrictions of the Pharisees, is not as important as what comes out of our mouths.  His disciples point out that the Pharisees are offended by his words, and Jesus says, “Leave them; they are blind guides.  If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (from Matthew 15: 7-14).

Jesus frequently criticizes the Pharisees for their attention to the letter of the law at the expense of the spirit of the law, and for their concern about how their rituals and practices look to people on the outside more than how the state of their hearts look to God on the inside.  Jesus isn’t referencing people who recognize what they do not know, and seek knowledge and understanding with a humble and willing heart, so much as the people who think they know it all already, and have no use for the Lord’s teachings.

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A Lenten Devotion

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This post is an adaptation of a Lenten devotion I wrote for a book distributed by my church for this Lenten season.  Click here to access the entire book of devotions.

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Take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.

The words that Paul writes here to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1:1-19 could easily have been written to my own twenty-first century congregation, or any of the worshiping groups in our suburban community.  We have been so enriched by God, in our speaking and our knowledge.  Many who look at our lives could say that the testimony of those who have shared the Good News of God has been confirmed in our lives.  God has given us His grace in Christ Jesus; He has provided us with a multitude of spiritual gifts; and He has called us into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ (v. 5-9).

But the similarity doesn’t stop there.  Paul calls on the church in Corinth to be “perfectly united in mind and thought,” without divisions that might lead one person to say, “I follow Paul,” while another says, “I follow Apollos,” and still others say, “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Jesus”(v. 10-12).  Who are we as Christians?  Is our faith grounded in the pastor we prefer, the sections of the Bible that most appeal to us, the style of music we enjoy during our church service? 

No. 

We are brothers and sisters in Christ, members of His body, and Christ is not divided.  Christ was born for us, He died for us, and He rose again for us for the forgiveness of our sins.  On that we can stand united!

During this Lenten season, instead of giving up coffee, or chocolate, or Facebook, why not give up divisiveness, dwelling in the past at the expense of the future, dwelling on the temporal at the expense of the eternal?  It may prove harder to do than staying off Facebook, but it may also prove more effective for focusing our hearts on our shared need for repentance and forgiveness. 

Consider praying this prayer as you focus your heart on Christ’s great sacrifice for us:

Heavenly Father, help us to focus our hearts and our minds on You during this Lenten season.  Forgive us and free us from the spirit of division, and help us to worship together as sons and daughters, united in our faith, love, and hope in You.

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Do You Suffer From Proseucheglossophobia?

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Do your hands start to sweat and your heart start to pound when Bible study moves on to “Prayer Time”? 

Do you find yourself reaching a near-panic state as the group leader looks around for “someone to close us in prayer”? 

Do you miss out on half of the spoken prayers because you are berating yourself for not speaking out to uphold a friend in prayer, running through all of the reasons that everyone is better off if you DON’T open your mouth, vowing to pray TWICE AS HARD tonight before you go to sleep to make up for not participating YET AGAIN in the prayer circle?

If any of these situations come close to your own, you may in fact suffer from proseucheglossophobia.

[That’s pros-yoo-khay-glos-o-fo-bee-ya.]

The term may be fiction, but the malady is all too real.

Experts estimate that as much as 75% of the population experience glossophobia, or the fear of speaking in public, to some extent.  I’ve added “proseuche” to that term to represent the fear of PRAYING in public, because “proseuchomai” in Greek means “to offer prayers.” 

Hence, proseucheglossophobia, is the fear of praying in public.  Say it ten times fast.  (Just not in public!)

I’m no psychologist, and cannot offer an analysis of why so many of us are afraid to pray out loud in front of people.  But, as a fellow phobic who has come far in overcoming the limits of that fear, I CAN share with you my own path to breaking free (a little bit!) from the phobia.

Pray About It!

Whenever I am facing some difficulty in my life, or working on some area of weakness, the first thing I try to do is to take my effort to God. 

I take seriously the passages in the Bible that remind me that my help comes from the Lord (Psalm 121:2), and that I can do little apart from Him (John 15:5).  I take seriously the reminders that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippans 4:13).  I take seriously the promises that a fervent prayer can accomplish a lot (James 5:16). 

When I noticed that I was having so much trouble praying out loud in front of people, and that I just couldn’t bring myself to participate during prayer times, I asked God to help me to overcome my fear.  I asked Him to remind me to focus on my conversation with Him, rather than putting my focus on how I might look or sound to the people listening to me.  I asked Him to remind me that my ego was so much less important than the work that I should be doing to bring the requests and needs of loved ones to Him in prayer.

Pray With Your Children

I knew that I couldn’t teach my children how to pray without modeling prayer in front of them, and I couldn’t very well close my eyes and bow my head and sit in silence, expecting them to learn anything about prayer from that. 

I started using a little book of devotions with them, and said aloud the one-line prayer provided in each day’s passage.  As I got more comfortable hearing my own voice, and as I thought of more things I wanted to pray for in front of my children, I prayed a little more “off-the-cuff,” using the pre-printed prayer as the first line, and adding additional thoughts of my own. 

Similarly at night before bed, I started with a one-sentence prayer, thanking God for our day and asking Him to protect us as we sleep.  Over time, I started adding to the prayer, asking for His blessings for our family, thanking Him for the day’s food and our home, asking for healing or comfort for some member of the family whom the girls knew was facing an illness or injury.  Then I added, “Please forgive us for our sins, and help us to make good choices.”  Occasionally, the girls ask me to pray for something, like a tummy ache or a cut on their finger or summertime mosquito bites. 

I found that praying aloud with my children was a very low-pressure, low-stress approach to getting comfortable with the overall idea of praying in front of others.  I started with a feeling of obligation (“I really NEED to be doing this for the spiritual development of my girls!”), and I started small (“They can only sit still for a sentence or two, so that’s where we’ll begin.”), and from there I got more comfortable, started to involve them in the content of the prayer, and added to the length of what I had to say. 

I think one reason this step helped me in my development as an “out-loud pray-er” is that with children I HAD to keep my words simple and my thoughts clear.  If I sat there and started praying about holiness and  sanctification, and “thou art,” and “thy sovereign this or that,” it would have turned me tongue-tied, and utterly confused the kids!  And once I started praying in front of other people—grown-ups—I didn’t see any real reason to switch gears and pull out the fancy Christian vocabulary. 

God knows my heart, and He knows what I’m trying to say, and if I’m going to bother speaking those thoughts aloud, they might as well be understandable!  God gave me this voice, and I try to pray aloud with the same voice I use when I pray inside my head.  There is no need for me to try to sound like anyone other than myself. 

Pay Attention

When I started to recognize that praying out loud is a skill, something that I could learn, I started really listening to people whose prayers I admired.  I started paying attention to how they began their prayers, how they addressed God, and what they said first.  I listened for the words and phrases they used to pray for people who needed healing, comfort, or encouragement.  I took note of what they said to bring their prayers to a close.  It was almost like I was creating a “word bank” in my mind with words and phrases I could use in my own prayers.  I could always hear if the things that other were saying didn’t sound like ME, though, and, as I said above, I always pray in my own voice, rather than taking on the voice of someone else I’ve heard as a prayer model.

Put Yourself in Positions Where You HAVE To Do It

I found myself in the position of leading one of the Bible study/prayer circles at my church.  I COULDN’T back out of praying now!  It was in MY job description (so to speak) to open our meetings in prayer, and to start off our prayer time at the end.  Yikes!  It was “do or die,” to put it melodramatically.  Facing this didn’t mean the phobia disappeared, not by a long shot, but it put me in a position where I could not avoid facing my phobia, and I had to figure out how to overcome it (by the means described above) in order to not be miserable internally and do what I considered would be a disservice to the women in my circle.

Avoid Comparisons To Others

More than anything, overcoming a fear of praying in front of others requires us to get rid of this pervasive and so-damaging practice of comparing ourselves to others. If it is truly just me talking to my Heavenly Father, why would I ever fear?  But when you add a handful of women to the equation, some of whom look like Giants of the Faith compared to where I am on my own faith journey, women who open their mouths and pour out eloquence in support of their sisters’ concerns and challenges, women who can incorporate scripture to support their requests…well, you can feel the pressure mounting as well as I can, can’t you?

But the fact is, no matter who is sitting in that room with you, your conversation is truly between you and God.  The rest of us sitting there are in solidarity with you.  Do you REALLY think that while you lift up your brother in Christ facing heart surgery or your sister in Christ trying to extract herself from an abusive relationship that someone in your circle is internally critiquing your word choice or snorting that you stuttered AGAIN?  And if they are, then woe to them, not to you!  Praying is not a competitive sport.  Some people will have a smoother delivery with finer words and deeper thoughts.  Others will be more stilted and halting.  All are approaching the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:6), following Jesus’ example and obeying God’s command to pray. 

You're Not Alone!

If you are nervous or fearful about praying out loud in front of others, be aware that you are in good company.  I found online references to “praying out loud” workshops to help people get more comfortable doing it.  Some pastors feel uncomfortable praying out loud, even though it is a fundamental part of their job description!

The most encouraging thing to keep in mind that praying out loud is a skill that you CAN learn, and its potential for allowing you to bless others makes it a skill worth developing. 

Making Sense of the Bible

The title of my post is a little grandiose perhaps.  I don’t think I will actually be offering you a magic key to unlock all of the mysteries of the Bible.  Only God Himself and some really diligent reading and praying are likely to do that for you!  But I do have a couple more thoughts that I want to share as you continue your commitment to spend time each day in God’s Word.

I think many of us have sat down to re-enter Bible reading, only to open up the Book and find the words too unfamiliar, the sentences too complex, and the people and place names too strange to wade through.  Try to choose a translation of the Bible that makes enough sense to you to be worthwhile.  I have always used the New International Version.  I’ve heard plenty of criticism of that version, and lots of alternatives, but it is a translation that I am familiar and comfortable with.  You can talk to friends, family members, or a pastor to get their translation recommendations.  Check out different translations from the library to see what you are comfortable with.  For me, the King James Version is too difficult to understand, and The Message is too subjective and colloquial.  These are my personal opinions, and there are people who will read nothing but the King James Version, or who feel as though The Message has brought them back to God’s Word for the first time in years.  The decision ultimately lies with you, and I recommend spending time in prayer, asking God to help direct you to the translation through which He can most effectively communicate with you.

Though it’s definitely not necessary, you might consider reading a Bible that leads you through the whole text in a year.  (It doesn’t mean, by the way, that you have to make it through in one year.  You may miss some days, or decide to read at a slower pace.)  Some of these “Bibles-in-a-year” will give you a selection of passages each day—perhaps an Old Testament passage, a Psalm, a reading from the Gospels, and a passage from the New Testament letters.  I’ve tried this approach and found it to be too choppy for my taste.  Right now, I am reading The One Year Chronological Bible, published by Tyndale House, and it works great for me.  The selections are a good length, and allow me to read a chunk of text without jumping from place to place.  I am not left to determine how much of the Bible I “should” be reading each day; it’s like a homework assignment, which a bookworm, schoolmarm-type like me responds to positively.  As I will point out again and again, what works best for me may not work best for you, so it may take some trial and error to find out what suits your lifestyle and personality.  If you’re spending time with the Bible each day trying to figure out what works best for you, then that time of experimenting with book types and translations will not be a “waste of time,” and I firmly believe that God will bless your efforts.

I have found children’s Bibles to be a great resource for my own Bible study, too.  I gave my daughter the Adventure Bible for Early Readers (Zonderkidz) for her 6^th birthday.  Its target audience is six- to nine-year olds.  As I struggled through the Book of Proverbs last month, I picked up her edition and found Solomon’s wisdom much more understandable when directed toward a younger reader.  During Sunday school last week, as my co-teacher did a lesson for fourth graders on the Beatitudes in the Book of Matthew, I found that the Adventures in Odyssey Bible (Focus on the Family) gave a very helpful translation of just exactly whom Jesus was blessing by his words.  (Haven’t you wondered?  Just who exactly are the “poor in spirit,” and why are they so blessed?  Pick up a children’s Bible to find out!)

And a final thought, which comes with a “Major Personal Opinion Alert”:  I would caution you against using daily devotion books to the exclusion of reading the Bible.  For example, if you read a page from Our Daily Bread or Jesus Calling or Encouragement for Today, but never open the Word of God itself, I think you are missing out on an important resource that God has given to His children.  These devotions usually present a single verse from the Bible, along with a story, commentary, and prayer that are related to it.  If you truly hold onto that Bible verse throughout the day, and apply it to your thinking and actions throughout, then I am certainly not suggesting that quantity trumps quality and you should try to read more, more, more.  But if you skim through the verse, and read through the text, and go on with your day without giving it a second thought, then I think you might be better served to read more of God’s Own Word, and less of men’s and women’s thoughts and commentary about God’s Word.  If you disagree, I am happy to hear your reasons (communicated respectfully, please!) so that no one who might be blessed by these sorts of devotional books is  pulled away from them by what I’ve said here.  I think they can be an inspiring supplement to your reading of the Bible, just not a substitute. 

If any of these suggestions work for you, if you have any questions, or if you have other advice or suggestions about making Bible reading and study an everyday part of your life, please let us know in the comments!

Incorporating Bible Reading Into Your Day

One of the major ways I build and maintain my relationship with God is by spending time reading and studying the Bible.  It has not always been a daily discipline for me, and even now there are days here and there when I miss out.  I’ve come a long way, though, towards making God’s Word part of my daily reading. 

In this post, I want to share a list of ideas for incorporating Bible reading into your day.  Not all of them will be relevant to your circumstances, but I am hoping that a few of them might prove helpful.  Some are strategies that I have used, and others have come from my reading over the years.

The most difficult times to fit Bible reading—or any reading, for that matter—into your day is when you have young children at home.  Here are some ideas specific to parents with little ones:

1.      Lead everyone in your family to have a devotional time at once.  Give your small children Bible storybooks and picture books, along with notebooks they can scribble their own “notes” in.  For some kids, a little spiral notebook feels like a special treasure instead of the usual big sheets of coloring paper they are used to. 

 

Set a timer, and let your children know, “When the timer goes ‘ding,’ I will read a story to you, but for now, it is everyone’s quiet time to spend with God.”

 

You will have to explain, model, and reinforce the behaviors you expect during this time just as you would when teaching any other appropriate behaviors for a given time and place.

2.      Even if your children have outgrown naptime, you can still have them observe a “quiet time,” when they are expected to read, draw, or play quietly in their rooms.  

Again, you will have to explain, model, and reinforce the behaviors you expect during this time.  “Quiet time” might not be all that quiet and Bible-directed while you are reinforcing that your children cannot keep popping out of their rooms to ask you a question or look for a different toy.  Use the same sorts of methods you employ to keep them in their rooms at night, and after some time you may find some fairly uninterrupted periods of morning or afternoon time for your devotions.

3.     Work with your husband to find a task that he can do with the kids on his own to free you up for a devotional time.  Perhaps he can brush teeth, give baths, oversee the putting on of pajamas, and read the nighttime books while you have your quiet time, and then you can come in for prayer, tuck ins, and kisses.  Or he could take them to the park, the library, or (even better!) the grocery store once a week so you can have an uninterrupted hour to yourself.

4.     Let your children see you read the Bible.  You don’t have to hide yourself away for devotional time, as long as you can find a way to be undisturbed.  It sets a great example, and makes them curious.

Here are some suggestions that could work for anyone at any point in her life:

1.      Read just a little before you go to sleep at night, or in the morning before anyone else is awake, depending on your own sleeping habits. 

2.      Find a time when you would usually pick up a magazine or scroll through Facebook (your lunch break at work, perhaps?), and pick up the Bible instead. 

 

3.      Keep a calendar of your Quiet Time reading to mark your progress.  Elizabeth George includes a Quiet Times Calendar in the back of her book, A Woman After God’s Own Heart.  You can shade in a square for each day you spend some time with God.  My daughter has a similar chart to this for her kindergarten class, so she can mark off every fifteen minute increment of reading she does each day.  Such a visual record may encourage you to be more faithful to your commitment.

4.       Tell other people about your intention to spend time in the Bible each day.  Knowing that they will ask you about your progress may offer additional incentive to keep up your commitment.

“What happens when you and I do slip away to be with God in study and prayer?” asks Elizabeth George in A Woman After God’s Own Heart.

“We receive,” she writes.  “We take in.  We are nurtured and fed…I call this time with God ‘the great exchange.’ Away from the world and hidden from public view, I exchange my weariness for His strength, my weakness for His power, my darkness for His light, my problems for His solutions, my burdens for His freedom, my frustrations for His peace, my turmoil for His calm, my hopes for His promises, my afflictions for His balm of comfort, my questions for His answers, my confusion for His knowledge, my doubt for His assurance, my nothingness for His awesomeness, the temporal for the eternal, and the impossible for the possible.”

Wow!  I think it’s clear that we get the best end of the bargain in this exchange, thanks be to God!