God's Love Letter

In my morning bible and devotional reading, I was in 2 Timothy 3:16.

"All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

The question posed in the devotional caught my attention, "Are there portions of Scripture you find yourself reading most often to the neglect of other parts of the Word?"

Sadly I'm guilty of this.  I have my favorite passages and even books I'd be more than happy to camp in for long periods of time.  I am more than happy to glance over the long " begats" in the Old Testament, the ceremonial laws as dictated to the temple priests, and a few places besides those that take a lot more study and understanding to fully grasp the context.  I could camp out in Psalms, Proverbs, 1/2/3 John, Ruth, etc.  Those draw my attention, I love reading them.

The verse says ALL Scripture, not just my favorites, is given by inspiration of God.  I'm bad about that.  It was even worse on my part in reading when the kids were much younger and needing me all hours of the day and night.  I neglected reading my Bible. 

As time has passed and our lives moved into different phases, I've been able to adjust my own reading.  I learned to read before and after a verse to get the context, read the chapter, or even the whole book if needed to get what the author is trying to get across.  I once heard a saying, that the Bible is God's love letter to us.  If you stop and think about it, you wouldn't just read one line of a love letter, you'd read it start to finish, devour every word your loved one says.  You'd cherish the words and keep them close to your heart. 

Shouldn't you and I do that with our Bible?

In the harried days of young motherhood it is absolutely super easy to get caught up in the rush of taking care of everyone else's needs.  All of us who have ever raised at least one baby, whether natural born, step, adopted, or foster, can relate.  It's just part of motherhood.  It's in these harried moments reading one passage or verse may be all you can get in while feeding, changing diapers, keeping slightly older children from swinging on the ceiling fans, chasing lightning fast toddlers, etc. 

Believe me all of us moms have been there. 

When you do have time to sit down, just keep trying to read your bible.  Find your focus verse, read before and after so you get the context, and see where you can apply it. 

If you can't get in much reading in during this season, don't beat yourself up.  Young mom, you are living out the ministry God has given you.  So what if you don't read the Bible in a year? Read what you can, get the context, and go quality over quantity.  Your growth isn't in how many words you read per day, but in what you learn and grasp from what you read.  In time your day will slow down and you'll have opportunity to read more. 

Keep on going mom, you've got this!