Time is Fleeting

As you plan your Bible reading, consider when you will study each day. Think about your regular day or maybe your irregular day.

If you read much, you'll have encountered the idea that your daily time with God should be the first thing in the morning. I've even read that all the great people of God over the years had a morning devotional time. One big advantage to recommend this is that you get up, do it first, and it is done for the day. A second big advantage to this time is that you will begin the day with God in His word and hopefully take His word with you throughout the day.

However, you might find this time doesn't work for you. Getting up earlier or finding peace in the morning might not work for you. At some point after reading the idea that to do great things for God, you had to study in the morning, I decided it was, therefore, obvious that I was not going to do great things for God because a morning devotion time did not work for me. The the original Bible writers didn't begin their day this way either because the Jewish day began at sunset not sunrise. So if morning doesn't work for you, don't give up, you can still read through the Bible this coming year.

The important thing is choosing a time you can stick with and if things interfere foreseeing that and rescheduling your Bible reading time. I've known moms who've done their Bible reading while they waited at children's lessons and activities. I do my Bible reading immediately after dinner (right after sunset!). You could even look at your weekly schedule and schedule your reading at a different time each day. Although I will say if you do this you might consider adding your reading time to your calendar if you keep one.

When picking a time, make sure you pick a time and set up a method for keeping it. If it needs to go onto a calendar, paper or electronic, do so. If you need to send yourself a reminder, do that (check out this free way to do that http://www.followupthen.com/). If you are new and/or unsure about the time then pick a back up time. For instance, let's say you want to try reading in the mornings, but you aren't sure how that will work, then look at your schedule and pick a second time, later in the day when you can read if that first time doesn't work.

Once you've picked a time, take a step back and again look at what you decided about taking days off and your bigger schedule, anticipate any problem areas and decide now what you might do to deal with those problem times. Obviously, you can't do this for the whole year, but you can take a look at your first month or two now.