Changes over time

 The older I grow, looking back over my life, the more I see my personal spiritual development over the years. I started off just reading Scripture as my Sunday School teachers and youth leaders guided me, memorizing a few verses here and there, learning some Bible stories well. Those spiritual exercises helped me learn facts, but the application of spiritual truth came later, as I grew in my own spirit.

READING

Even attending a highly religious college, albeit some help in that development, was not the key to my personal growth. It was my determination to know, understand, and obey the Word of God that led me to the place I am now - learning how to study and apply God's Word to my personal life and experience.

RECORDING

About fifteen years ago I decided to start writing in long hand one verse from every chapter of the Bible that stood out to me. That exercise made a huge difference in how much I actually remembered of what I had read. I had not realized until I did that just how much I was NOT learning/remembering.

HIGHLIGHTING

I bought a set of colored pencils and began highlighting verses and/or passages using a color-coding system that I made up. I still use that same system to this day. My Bible is getting rather full of colors after having done this for over ten years now!

JOURNALING

After about a year of doing that, I bought a journaling Bible and began drawing depictions of the verse that meant the most to me from each day's reading. I hesitated over this move because I am definitely not an artist, but with the help of copyright-free clip art, I got started. Over time this has developed into less art and more words but the effect has been the same ... added ways to remember certain verses or phrases that impressed me as I read.

 

WRITING

Now, I feel almost like I have come full circle as I look over the ten or so notebooks I have filled with the thoughts that come to me as I read each day. I follow a chronological reading plan, which has helped me get a better picture of the timing and circumstances of each passage of Scripture. Trying to find an application for myself in this 21st century environment has sometimes been a challenge but all times a blessing.

Which is the reason I decided to record some of that in this sister blog to my My Retirement Desk blog ... making and sending cards is the second life to my Bible studying retirement years.  It has all been part of turning my retirement years into truly golden ones. I plan to share some of my thoughts on this blog. Perhaps some of my meditations will be of help, challenge, or encouragement to someone else as well.