Where nothing & no one goes unnoticed

Unbeknownst to me (til now of course), Melissa and Brett roped me into do a little sharing on Sunday nite re scripture readings. And to quote Brett, "it's just like blogging only live". Seeing as he said that, I thought I'd have a trial run here and feel free to comment on it before Sunday happens so I can make sure it's all sweet for Sunday nite.

In our daily walk, scripture reading is an area that most people struggle with. With our lives consumed by the busyness of work, uni, school, social life etc it is extremely easy to forget about His word. And I will be the first to admit that I am often guilty of that. It's so easy to say, "I'll do it later" or "I'll do it tomorrow" or variations of that sort. And soon, the thought remains a thought, instead of becoming an action, and eventually lost from the back of our mind into thin air.

So why have I decided to make scripture reading part of my "devotional life"? I guess, it one of the many ways that I tink we connect with God and also a way to get to know the scriptures better.

How have I found this process? Well, it's definitely been no walk in the park. Like anything, getting started isn't the hard bit...it's the keeping at it that's hard. But you keep pursuing it and eventually you push pastthe hard stage and it just beocme natural. However, we do have to beware of routine becoming meaningless gestures. See post on Perfect...A bad thing? Surely not.

So how do you find out what works for you and what doesn't? The answer would be: Trial and Error. There is no right or wrong way. We are all different so for each it is a different devotional, a different routine. And it is OK to experiement with diiferent routines and/or devotinals while you are searching for what works for you. It's kinda like looking for a faith community/church that works for you. You don't just settle for the first one you go to if you don't feel comfortable there. (I'm not promoting church hopping, this is just an example.)

It took me many years to find out what worked for me. Many years ago, while back in Malaysia, I started by trying to go from cover to cover and that didn't last very long. Then someone said to start from the NT and go from there and that didn't work either. So I then went off scripture readings for quite a while. The disappointment and setbacks just put me off trying again. Last year when we started our Lent series, we were each handed out a devotional journal and at the back it had a section on scripture readings. I didn't know what I wanted to give up for Lent so I thought why not take up something. So that's what I did...I started a daily routine of scripture reading using the guide from the devotional journals. It was going well in terms of keeping at it but it wasn't working out because I found it hard understanding some scriptures, especially OT scriptures. So I took a break from the devotional journal and tried The Word for Today by Rhema/((Life Fm)). I enjoyed that coz it made scripture easy to understand and applicable to daily living. I was using that for about 6-9 months. And bout a month or so ago, I decided to go back to the devotional journal and it's been going well. It took a while to get back into but I've found my groove.

So what results have I seen in myself? With doing anything on a regular basis, you have to be accountable to yourself. So by making sure I do my readings on a regular basis, it’s had a snowball effect into the other areas of my life. Some of the things I do are scheduling time to get homework done, take time out for myself, getting enough time to practice my sax etc. But more importantly, it’s helped with getting to know the scriptures better and being Christ to those around me.

I'd like to leave you with a challenge: If you don't already have a routine set in place for scripture readings, find one that works for you. And don't be discouraged if it takes a while to find something that works. When you do, it'll be well worth it!