God, You, & Luke 2: Day 7

Before I started this Advent series, I had penciled in on a calendar the main ideas that I had made note of when I did this reading exercise a couple of years ago. I wanted to make sure I had something to blog about for 24 days straight! A plan is always good.

I had glanced at my list of these ideas today, and saw what I had down for Day 7. Check. Then I began reading Luke 2. As I was beginning to read, I found I was having a bit of trouble concentrating. So halfway through, I started reading the passage out loud.

Bingo. That helped. I was not only seeing the words with my eyes, I was hearing the words with my ears.

That's when God nudged my soul to change my plan.

I balked at first, because I like my plan. I have my ideas all numbered out and everything! But then God reminded me of one of "my sayings:" You can never be too organized, just too inflexible. And, He reminded me that His ideas are always better than mine.

Today, I do feel like it's His idea to suggest the practice of reading scripture out loud to yourself. You engage another one of your senses, which requires that you s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. And, if you're like me, reading it out loud helps me concentrate!

If you're having "one of those days," and fill especially squeezed for time, there's another option to reading it out loud to yourself. Have your favorite computer read it to you. There is more than one website out there that does this, but the one I typically use is the ESV Bible.  (BibleGateway is another good and popular site). My computer often follows me into the laundry room where I can have scripture read to me while I wash and fold.

I hope these "audio tools" in your Bible study tool kit are as helpful to you as they have been/are to me.   May they increase our faith.

Romans 10:17

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.