Of Reading and Habits

I mentioned before that my goal is to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. If you watch the sidebar, you'll notice that I'm keeping track. I decided that I needed some accountability in this endeavor, or it would never get finished. Hence the tracking bars -- amount read versus goal.

This week I finished the Old Testament. When we were in our Emmaus Reunion group this Saturday, I brought this up. That discussion kind of solidified my thoughts about this process -- well, solidified them from liquid to jello. Thoughts:

• The Bible I bought for this project was designed to be read in 90 days -- 12 pages at a time. I tried this for about a week, and didn't like it. I know others have tried it, and found it appealing, but I felt like the Bible was speeding by, with no time for digestion. Because of that, and because 12 pages a day meant that I had to start reading at 6am, I switched to 6 pages a day. This has worked better in some ways. It is a more realistic chunk for me to handle. I can get up at 6:15 to start reading (and I like those extra 15 minutes of sleep). Half the number of pages per day reduces that rushed problem that I had.
• Even with only 6 pages a day, I still sometimes, at the end of the 20 minutes, feel like I'm not sure what I've read. My eyes have moved over all the words, but sometimes the focus is lost.
• On the positive side, I've read parts of the Bible that I avoided before. I'm still amazed that I remember Job so well. It really made an impression on me. I was dreading reading it, but found that it had something to say to me.
• The Psalms rushed by in fast forward motion. Reading them like this meant that I had no time to savor them at all. The Psalms deserve a more careful reading.
• I had a habit, when I started this, of blogging about something that I had read once a week. This was helpful, in that it made me keep watch -- to find something that really got me thinking. As I moved into the prophets, I feel out of this routine. I wonder if that means that I lost that discipline, or if it means that the prophets didn't get me thinking as much. Hopefully in the New Testamant, I'll be able to return to that kind of text of the week blogging.

Am I glad I'm doing it this way? Yes. I'll have read the whole thing by the time I'm done in July, and that can't be a bad thing. Would I pick up the Bible and read it again just like this immediately? No.

On a positive note, this "habit" of getting up early to read has accomplished just that -- established a habit. I'm already thinking about what's next. I like this time, set aside, to read. I'm excited to pick something else like this "straight-read-through" to tackle next. In addition, I try to finish my 20 minutes with prayer. It's not much, but it is a few minutes to habitually pray each morning (weekdays, anyway) that I wasn't giving to God before. I use it to focus on particular prayer requests. When I say, "Please know that you are in my prayers," now I have a specific and habitual time that this can happen.

I'm anxious to see how this kind of reading works with the New Testament (which starts tomorrow).

Image: Did you know that poplar trees bloom? The yellow poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera, is blooming right now, and the photo is of one of its flowers, next to our parking lot at the VA. I like it, because it is so unexpected.