An answered prayer

I am having a wonderful Bible reading month.

I have been getting such joy and help from everything I am been reading.

Of course, it's not normally like that.  My parent's instilled in me the wonderful habit of reading the Bible before bed, and so it's something that I don't struggle to do.  But I struggle sometimes to concentrate.  I struggle sometimes to learn.  I struggle sometimes to remember what I read the day before.  I do it, because i know it is good for me, and because I know God's word is powerful and I need it in my life.  But I don't always do it because I enjoy it.

I encourage our teenagers at church to read the Bible every day but they struggle with it.   It just doesn't hold the same addictive power as Vampires, or Angels or other super-nature teenagers and their complicated life-styles!  And I understand that.  I actually made a new rule this year- read my Bible before I read fiction.  Because I would read fiction until I was sleepy and then...oh wait, Bible.

But I think i need to keep reminding them and myself that it is a process.  That you do go through periods where it just seems boring and hard to understand, and that is just because of who we are, sinners who don't realise what we have.  That doesn't mean you give up or stop- good things sometimes take hard work.  You persevere, and you ask God to change you and help you, and to mercifully help you to enjoy what is such a special and magical thing.

And you expect that sometimes it will be hard.

But you can also expect that sometimes it will be a joy.  And at those times you need to just ride the wave and read like crazy :)
Love B