Morning Routines
We all have them.
My normal routine, since I am a morning person, is to get up around 4am, read my email, check out the news, get a cup of coffee or two, and then spend some quiet time in the Word of God.
Recently, that’s been a challenge, however. I might have mentioned before, but my wife and I are fostering two puppies that are requiring a lot of extra (and somewhat unwanted), attention right now as they are recovering from their snip, snip surgery. This is only indirectly about that.
One of our elders, during his communion meditation one Sunday, state the time it would take to go through the Bible in a year, and I have managed to do that several times already. The first time I went through the Bible in a year, I did it on my own. I don’t remember how I broke it up but I think I tried to read an Old Testament and New Testament chapter each day. The only problem was some days, I’d read a lot and some days I wouldn’t. The last couple years, I have found online reading programs (that I believe do a better job at chunking it together). The program I’m using now has an Old Testament chapter, a chapter from Psalms, a chapter from Proverbs (yes, I’ll have read it several times over the year but that is a good thing), and a chapter from the New Testament. This same online source has other shorter-term topics that have daily readings for say 10 days. I had picked up a couple of them as well.
The first time I went through the Bible, I remember some days trying to rush through it before I left for work. Now, however, I’m adding additional reading to the daily commitment…
Anyway, our new puppies have put a crimp into my process. Since they are in the house recuperating from their surgery, I am reluctant to jump out of bed at 4 am and come in for my quiet time. Did I mention that my wife is definitely not, and I repeat not, an early morning person? Well, now you know. Anyway, I am afraid I’d wake them up (which getting up and going to my living room is intended to not wake up my wife). So, I have tried to go back to sleep for as long as possible. This morning it was 4:45am before I got up.
I guess you could say that I slept in.
My wife gets up around 6am and I make us both breakfast, so my potential quiet time is limited. The last few days, with the additional puppy impact, I’ve not been able to have my quiet time as planned with the intention of making it up after breakfast. This morning, I was behind 3 days in my program reading.
Interestingly enough, the first time I went through the Bible, guilt consumed me when I stumbled and got behind and at a couple of points, I considered throwing in the towel and trying again the following year (I didn’t do this, but I did consider it). This time, I feel calmer about my shortcomings and committed to finding the time to do it right and without hurrying through it. Maybe I’m not looking at it as being a task I get to check off or not but an opportunity to learn and grow (at least I pray that is the difference).
“So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” - Acts 8:30-35 ESV
“They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” - Nehemiah 8:8
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.” - Proverbs 27:17-18
“… knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” - 2 Peter 1:20-21
The interesting aspect of these passages is that they all involve sharing them with other believers. I’ve heard the “iron sharpens iron” passage most commonly associated with this activity. Reading God’s word is a commendable goal but discussing it with others and comprehending it should be an even more commendable goal (isn’t it great that the church has several Bible studies from which to choose from?).
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” - Hebrews 5:12-14
