Recently, 2020 was named “‘The Year of the Bible’ for many Christians” by a secular news channel. In fact, an organization named just that—Year of the Bible—claims that this is your year to dive into a deeper understanding of the Bible. Their entire goal is to bring more people together from all over the world to study God’s Word this year. Honestly, I can’t think of a better goal for any of us this year.
God Will Meet You
Last year, I made the commitment to read through the entire Bible in 2019 with my friends at The Bible Recap. I’ll be honest with you and tell you that I did not accomplish this task. But I haven’t given up! I am still trucking along with my Bible reading plan, and I listen whenever I’m on walks around my neighborhood.
Is this your year to dive into reading more of God’s Word? I firmly believe that any minute you spend in His Word will prove to be fruitful for your life. Whether you commit to reading for 10 minutes a day or 45, God will meet you at that time right where you are.
I have learned that there are seasons when reading God’s Word feels harder, and there are seasons when it feels easier—and some of that is based on our circumstances and life stages. When you are young and living at home, there is so much time to spend in the Word. Heading to college or into the workforce might mean you have to fight harder to find that time. If you get married, you may find that your early morning time in bed sipping coffee while journaling away suddenly has another person in it. There always seems to be a new obstacle to finding time to be in God’s Word for us to learn to work through.
And if you become a parent, once again your time looks different than it did before. To all of you mamas with young children out there—I encourage you to fight to find time to spend with God in His Word every day. It can be hard, but it’s so worth it.
Before having children, I imagined that life with kids meant that I’d have the same schedule and routines I had before, and I would just have this little person joining me in everything. But what I quickly learned was that though the little person was always there, strangely they were not interested in doing anything I wanted to do! Take sleeping, for example. I preferred to stay up late and sleep in. My babies, on the other hand, loved sleeping all day and partying all night. We had very conflicting schedules!
Some Practical Tips
On the long list of things that were far different than I expected in motherhood was my morning quiet time. I learned that “morning” is defined differently by children, and so is “quiet time”! I quickly discovered that I was going to have to make some changes in order to spend quality time with the Lord. Here are some things that worked for me and some that worked for other mama friends of mine:
- I kept my Bible open on a table all day long. This allowed me to get in time to read whenever there was a chance. When there were a few moments when my child was content, I could sit and read a few verses. It might take me the whole day to get through one chapter, but I was dedicated to being in God’s Word however I could get it.
- As my children got older, I would invite them into some quiet reading time. This meant lugging all of their books into the living room and modeling for them what it looks like to spend time reading God’s Word. Often I would read them a story from their Jesus Storybook Bible (if you don’t have this Bible for your kids, stop reading now and go buy it!) and then invite them to “read” on their own while I took a few quiet minutes to read my Bible.
- A struggle that I still have (because I love my morning sleep!) is getting up before my kids do. Even now with big kids who will sleep until forever, when I make an effort to get up before them and enjoy the quiet of my house with my coffee cup and my Bible, my soul is refreshed before my day even begins.
- Post Scripture where you are all day long. I wrote Scripture on note cards and placed them above my sink and washing machine, because I spent so many hours there when my kids were little. I had a friend who laminated pages of Scripture and hung them in her shower with the hope that when she could get five minutes alone for a shower, she could read God’s Word at the same time.
- Understand the value. Becoming a parent is huge. Parenting and pouring into your kids’ lives is one of the best and most important jobs you will ever have. And if you think you can do it without also pouring into your own soul, you will quickly find yourself dry and weak. It’s important to continually remind yourself that reading God’s Word for 20 minutes is more beneficial and life-giving than the same time spent scrolling through Instagram.
- Lastly, read with others. I’m convinced that we are always better together, and that is true for Bible reading as well. Find some friends, share what you’re reading each day, and hold each other accountable.
This can and should be “The Year of the Bible” for us as Christ-followers. In fact, every year should be. I can’t help but stand up and cheer for organizations that are doing something to help more people get into God’s Word. My hope for you is that this is your year of Bible reading too!