Reading the Bible in One Year...or Two

Let’s play a game called “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” (Yes, the picture is up to date...)

Got your answer? Me too.

 I must admit that I have fallen behind on my daily Bible readings. Some days I didn’t have time. Some days I forgot. Some days I just didn’t want to. It’s that simple. The result? A fairly major delay in meeting my goal of reading the Bible in one year. While many would look at this picture and immediately see it as a failure, I look at this picture and see something different: progress.

I am a firm believer in striving for progress, not perfection. “It doesn’t matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.”  Any amount of forward progress is better than giving up. Notice how I stressed the word any. We are all unique individuals who are motivated by different things and move at different paces; some of us do well under pressure and some of us do not.

So why am I not completely stressing out about straying so far from my goal?

1.     I know the real point of this goal. The time frame in which I read the Bible isn’t the point of this goal. The real point of this goal is to read the entire Bible. I chose the duration of one year because it sounded like a good starting point. As long as I don’t stop reading all together, I know I will eventually accomplish this goal.

2.     I know myself. I have tried reading the Bible in one year a few times before, but I never got very far because I would fall behind, become discouraged, and throw in the towel. I’ve chosen to learn from my past mistakes and adjust my expectations for future attempts accordingly, which is why this attempt has been my most successful one to date.

3.     I’ve learned from my past mistakes. Like I said before, I’ve learned from my mistakes and adjusted my expectations. A lesson can be learned from every failure we encounter in life. These failures not only teach us what choices to avoid repeating in the future, but they also teach us a lot about ourselves (if we let them). If you find yourself continually “failing” at accomplishing the same task over and over, take a step back, identify why progress isn’t being made, and accept the fact that you may need to adjust your approach to better fit your needs.

4.     I refuse to conform to the standards of society or care what others think about me. Yes, I printed off a template for “The Bible in One Year”, not “The Bible in One Year…or Two”. Society would say that I’ve failed so far, but what do I say? I say I’m being smart. I know my limits. I know my capabilities. I know what I can handle. Failing would be to disregard everything I know about myself simply to regard a standard I feel pressured to live up to because of a few words printed on a piece of paper. We need to care less about what others think of us and how we compare to those around us, and more about living a life that we are proud of and happy to call our own. Life is so much more enjoyable when you live it at your own pace, in your own way, crushing your own goals, on your own time. Comparison truly is the thief of all joy, but lucky for us, it's a thief that's easy to evade.

Now I’m not saying to never set goals that scare you, to never push yourself, or to never go out of your comfort zone, because after all, “everything you’ve ever wanted is right outside your comfort zone.” It’s good to set crazy goals and push your limits in an attempt to crush those goals. As T.S. Eliot once said, “…only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” While I can personally attest to that, I’m simply reminding you to be kind to yourself when you are feeling overwhelmed or when things just aren’t going your way in life. It’s ok to take a step back and allow yourself to move at a more comfortable pace for a while. Take the time to learn your limits. Learn your weaknesses. Learn your strengths, and by golly, play to those strengths! Find what motivates you and stick with it! And most importantly: do not compare yourself or your progress to the standards of society and those around you; it’s not a realistic way to live. Now repeat after me: “Different strokes for different folks.” Ya feel me? You do you, I’ll do me, and we’ll all live together happily!

As for me, I’ve got a Bible to read.

♥ Jane