one month down

As part of my commitment to make the most of my time, I started reading through the Bible again, with a goal to finish in 100 days (plan details here). In the month of January, I read Genesis - 1 Kings. Overall, I highly recommend this reading plan, though it does come with some challenges.

Challenges

Saturdays have been the hardest to keep up with. If we have a family outing, it starts during my usual reading time. If we don't go on a family outing, there are distractions. I need to set a workable time to do my readings on Saturdays because our schedule is so different from my weekdays. In January, I either planned ahead and read a few extra chapters each day so that I was finished with the week's readings on Friday or I read as much as I could on Saturday and saved the rest for Sunday afternoon nap time. So far I have not fallen behind, but it has taken extra work to keep up with Saturdays.

Benefits

It may seem counter-intuitive to decide to be disciplined in the use of my time and also try to read more of the Bible each day than I've ever done before. It takes me between 30 and 45 minutes to do my Bible reading and prayer each day. In a typical 365-day reading plan, it takes me 15 minutes or less. It would seem that less time would be more manageable, but I am finding that spending more time forces more discipline.

Far better than that is the benefit of seeing major themes in the Bible. Reading so much so fast doesn't leave time to focus on every detail, but also, reading about several different people or events in quick succession makes certain similarities very obvious.

My favorite part of this reading plan is that it specifically includes prayer. I have been journaling my prayers, in part for accountability, but in part for future reference. Each day as I read, I ask God to show me verses that I should pray for myself, for my family, and/or for Maisha Kamili today. This keeps me from reading without paying attention. It adds a depth of meaning to the exercise of reading through the Bible and makes it relevant and applicable each day. It turns simple reading into actually spending time in conversation with God.

For February

This month I am reading 2 Kings - Isaiah. My goal is to work out a solution for Saturday's reading and to keep up the momentum I have.