Tricks and Tools

I broke my shoulder last spring. One minute I was planting flowers around the birdbath in the back yard and the next I had fallen against the edge of a raised planter. My husband rushed me to the emergency room where X-rays showed a fracture just below the shoulder joint on my left arm.

It’s no joke recovering from an injury to a shoulder. I had to keep my left arm immobile for seven weeks, and when I finally got out of the sling I could hardly lift a tea cup, I couldn’t even reach up to scratch my head. I wondered if I would ever regain the full use of my arm.

Diligence and Patience

I’m in the middle of a year of physical therapy now, but diligence and patience pay off. Every time I do the exercises my physical therapist gave me I get closer to my goal. I made a check chart and I fill the boxes with colorful doodles as I do my daily round of uncomfortable exercises. It keeps me motivated.

Diligence and patience . . . do you like those words? I think that many of us need a strong shot of motivation to get going on a project that requires diligence and patience. Take reading the Bible, for instance. Just as I needed a physical therapist to spur me on in my recovery from a broken shoulder, people need friends to help them grow as Bible readers.

It’s also helpful to throw in a few motivating tricks and tools.

Tricks and Tools

Say you decide to read through a book of the Bible, making notes each day on your questions and your favorite verses. Imagine how much more you will learn if you share your notes with a friend. Maybe you both have the same questions and you can find the answers together. The things you learn with a friend will really stick with you.

Sharing your favorite verses with each other is inspiring, too. When you talk about what you love from the Scriptures, the words lift off the page and come alive for you. One of the best ways to learn the Bible is to read it aloud and discuss it with friends.

Join Our Group!

And why not use this motivating tool to help you keep going? You can click on the One Year Chronological Bible Study in the menu bar on my website to reach . . . https://www.cherylvthompson.com/cbs/ . . . and  join a whole lot of other people who are reading the Bible through this year.

It’s not too late to buy a copy of the One Year Chronological Bible and join us!

Worth It!

I need to mention that you are likely to have some gaps between days in your reading as you go along.  Maybe you read every day for a week and then go on vacation and miss a couple of days. That’s OK! The Bible always waits for you to come back. It’s more important for you to enjoy reading the Bible than for you to worry about reading it perfectly every day. In fact, the right way to read the Bible is the way that feels best to you.

Getting to know the Bible may seem like a big challenge, but if you take it one day at a time, you can make it yours. There is nothing more valuable than getting to know this living book of wisdom. It’s worth your diligence and patience!