A New Plan

Everybody needs a plan and a goal. We were sitting at dinner tonight, watching three men in the lot next door do -- well -- something to this car. I don't know what the plan was, but I'm hoping it wasn't to change the spark plugs. Notice that the man is in the trunk, not under the hood.

I had a goal and a plan at the beginning of the year to read the Bible -- straight through. I explained the goal on this blog and then kept track of my progress in the sidebar. This "public" declaration and measurement was only for me -- to keep me accountable to what I had said that I would do. I felt a little strange doing it -- the blog part, I mean, because I didn't want it to seem like a "Look what I'm doing" kind of display. I hope it wasn't seen as that, but in the end, it did what it was supposed to do. It kept me on schedule, and I finished what I set out to do.

So now it's time to set a new goal and design a new plan. I'm going to blurt it out here on the blog for the same reason as the previous blurting -- to keep myself accountable. So, really, this post is for me, and you can read it if you want.

My goal: Continue reading each morning. I've enjoyed this early time that I have set aside to focus on God. It has been a nice start to my day. This time, I want to invest some effort in the Revised Common Lectionary Readings.

My plan: I found, on a blog called Eight Iron, written by Greg Crofford, a devotional plan (scroll down to April 18 -- I can't seem to get a direct link) that I liked. I have no idea how I ran across it -- I just stumbled on it, I guess. I didn't like EVERYTHING about it -- notice that I'm not including the fast he lists as Step #4. I also wanted to modify it to include the lectionary readings. So my modified plan -- if I knew enough about golf, I might give it a golf name in honor of Greg's blog:

1. Read part of the Revised Common Lectionary Reading for the week on each weekday, Monday through Thursday (Monday = Old Testament, Tuesday = Psalm, Wednesday = Epistle, Thursday = Gospel).
2. In a journal, record the ID of the reading, and a very short sentence or two of impression.
3. Read that day's devotional reading from Disciplines 2006 (there is a link in the sidebar to the book). This devotional book follows the lectionary readings, too. On Friday, read the devotion for Friday, Saturday and Sunday (since I know I won't do this on the weekend, and Friday has no specific Bible reading.)
4. In the journal, record a sentence or two of impressions from the devotion.
5. Spend some time in prayer at the end, including a short sentence prayer written in the journal inspired by the readings.

So far I've done this for two days, and I like it. I thought I would use The Message version of the Bible for a more modern twist, but Psalms in The Message are just icky. Bad translation for the poetry of those writings. To compensate for that problem, I've added an NRSV bible to my stack of books. What I would really like to find is an NRSV / Message parallel Bible, but I don't think one exists.

I have noticed so far that the writing each day is helping me to focus (read -- keeping me awake). By the time I get to the prayer at the end, my prayer seems much more awake and in contact with God (read -- I'm remembering to pray for what is on my mind, and am able to listen a little better without -- you guessed it -- falling asleep).

I'll try this for a while. So far, so good.