Benediction #73

Takeaways from Reading the Bible in a Year

It’s been a while! I don’t know if this post means I’m back on the reg, but before January gets away from us, I wanted to chat about the one goal I reached in 2024: reading the Bible in a year. I hope this will encourage someone, or at least give you some food for thought!

I've always considered myself an avid reader. On one hand, 2024 was my lowest reading year in quite a while. Going from 58 books in 2023 to 33 books in 2024 felt a little embarrassing as I reviewed my accomplishments for the year! On the other hand, I hit another "reading goal" I had never made for myself before and wasn't sure I'd complete: reading the Bible from start to finish in a year. It wasn't until about mid-Summer that I felt confident I'd complete it, if I'm being honest. But now that we're on the other side, I want to record a few takeaways while they’re still fresh on my mind:

1. Find a regular time to complete your reading (or listening) every day.

Before deciding to dive into this, I noticed I had a huge chunk of "empty" time where I could listen to something on my drive to and from my son's daycare. It's a 30-minute drive one way and I casually thought, "Hey, might as well read the Bible!"

My method: I used The Bible Recap's reading plan through the YouVersion app and mostly listened to the daily readings. Then, I'd go listen to The Bible Recap's podcast episode for that particular day, which gave a good 7-10 minute breakdown of what I just read.

2. Don't get disheartened by the hard-to-read parts.

Listen, there are boring parts of the Bible. Hard to stomach parts of the Bible. Parts where you want to fall asleep (looking at you, family tree lists), and parts where you're going to think, "why would God let such an evil thing happen?" My two pieces of advice for this are 1. Remember the bigger story and 2. Know you don't have to have it all figured out. The fact of the matter is I'm never going to be a Bible scholar. But I believe the Holy Spirit equips us with good old fashioned common sense that allows us to understand more than we'd give our own selves credit for, and we can utilize the insight of real, God-led Biblical scholars in those areas where we're stumped.

3. If you fall behind, no big deal -- Just catch up!

I definitely fell behind a few times, mostly during seasons where I was traveling for work a lot and wasn't in my normal driving routine. At the beginning of the year I made a commitment to myself that I'd never get more than a week behind, and that's a promise I was able to keep. If you do a plan like The Bible Recap or The Bible Project, these daily readings are small and digestible enough that it always felt doable to catch up on a week's worth and get back on track.

4. It's going to leave you wanting more.

This is my biggest surprise of this whole journey. When I committed to this, I figured at the end of the year it would feel like completing any other goal -- worthy of a "hooray!," a happy dance, and a cross off my 2024 goal list. While I am excited to be able to say that I've read the Bible from start to finish, the main feeling it's left me with is a sense of wanting to know God more. To keep reading and gain an even better understanding of his plan for us and his love for us. It's like I scratched the surface of something in 2024 that I want to fully immerse myself in now.

So, I'm sticking with it for 2025. I'm switching plans this year, joining my church in The Bible Project's “One Story That Leads to Jesus” reading plan. I truly feel like if I can do it, anyone can. If you've been on the fence about starting your own reading plan for the year, it's not too late! My prayer for anyone reading the Bible this year (including myself) is that we're strengthened, challenged, and encouraged by this endeavor.

Wishing you well,

Mollie