tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024768053002787146.post6863730997113512699..comments2024-03-19T16:01:56.172-05:00Comments on Bees in My Bonnet: A Mother's PietySarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370095814271780946noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024768053002787146.post-80677091912317515082014-01-27T19:53:09.831-06:002014-01-27T19:53:09.831-06:00Yep, at the beginning of every New Year we are bom...Yep, at the beginning of every New Year we are bombarded, I mean presented with multiple times multiple Bible reading plans. And I say to myself, well, this one seems doable, or that one seems logical, or the other one seems sanctifying. This year I picked something really, really, really easy. And I've already "failed." And at no point did it taste like honey. My pen didn't flow over my journal pages with profound insight. Sometimes just a note of the reference. So I'm with you on this one. <br />How about one verse or short passage on a notecard over the sink, on the bathroom mirror, written on your palm, wherever -- to meditate on day and night while you're being a mommy. You can choose it the night before. You could even do a version of what Ann VosKamp is doing this year: 12, 24, 48, 72 (multiples of 12) verses from John, written up "pretty" on single pages, to memorize. You've probably memorized all the verses she has chosen, but they are good for mediation about who Jesus is. Or you could choose something else -- a Psalm, a chapter or two from one of the epistles, -- and after the kids are down, write out your postcards for the next day or even create your own beautiful little posters of one verse at a time. She got her inspiration from the illustrated manuscripts, thinking about how those monks were focusing on the beauty of Jesus and just had to make His word beautiful. Her theme this year is seeing the beauty of Jesus in the book of John. She's doing this as "Scripture Memory for the Rest of Us" -- meaning those who couldn't manage her previous yearly projects: Colossians 1-4; Matthew 5-7; Romans 1-12. (I remember the Logan family memorizing Romans 12.) And part of the point was to get away from the performance perspective (memorizing massive quantities) and on to the beauty of Jesus perspective. And this is what you're talking about. If reading the Bible not only fails to make us love God more but makes us love our family less, what's the point?<br /><br />I think you are in a stage where it might be more beneficial to meditate on one verse all day, letting it sink deep into your soul, than to to jump through hoops of "through the Bible..." reading that produces a shrieking shrew. (I'm sure this reminds you of my throwing God's Holy Word into the lilac bushes. Well, I just got a picture of a shrieking woman yanking at her disheveled red hair, then tripping over her voluminous skirts as she jumps through hula hoops, two hands clawing at air in five different directions.) <br /><br />You've got forty years after the kids are grown to do the marathons. (Wait, I'm in that forty year period. What's my problem? OK, never mind. Whenever whatever constitutes retirement arrives, then I'll start my rocking chair, Bible in lap marathon. Maybe.)<br /><br />Love your honesty. Love you.<br /><br />SuzanneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com