Jim Rohn once said, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." I completely agree with this sentiment and will add that it extends beyond in-person interactions to also include media. You are the average of the people, and their content, you spend the most time with.
So, it's not so much, "you are what you eat," but more "you are what you consume."
What do you give attention to? Do you spend time on Facebook? Netflix? News sites? Blogs for XYZ? Whether you realize it for not, each of these influence your thoughts and perceptions of the world. None of those are good or bad, but you want to be purposeful with what you choose.
One "person" I choose to spend time with is God. I want Him influencing my thoughts and perceptions. There are many ways to interact with God, but as the quote implies the important part isn't what you do, but the amount of time invested.
One way of spending time with God is by reading the Bible. You can do occasional power sessions where you read entire books, but lasting change comes from the regular habit of spending time with God each day.
You can pick up a Bible and start reading. Even 10 minutes a day is great, but I find it helpful to have a reading plan.
One problem I have with most "read the entire Bible in a year" plans is that they don't give you a margin for missed days. For example, the plan I followed last year required reading every single day. What do you do if you miss a day? One option is to treat reading like exercise: you just pick it back up the next day (either skipping the previous day or taking longer than a year). The other option is to double up the next day, but what if you get 2 (or 3!) days behind?! Suddenly the discipline feels daunting.
What if you had a plan with built-in days off? That way you could catch up if needed. It turns out there is a plan called the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan which does exactly that by splitting the plan into 25 days a month.
But, to be honest, I don't love the way it splits the Old Testament reading. It groups all the wisdom books together, and as a result, feels like you're flying through Psalms and Proverbs. My plan last year broke these out so you read a little bit of each every day, and I really liked it!
So... I made my own which combines the two.
It's 25 days a month of reading, giving you time to catch up if needed, or opportunities to dive deeper on days off.
Every day you read a Psalm, a Proverb, and the Gospel. Plus, a section of the remaining parts of the Old and New Testaments. I used the Discipleship Journal for the New Testament sections. And the DAB for the Proverbs (which I modified to fit 300 days of reading). For the Old Testament and Psalms, I found a website that gives each book's verse count and used that to spread out the reading evenly while maintaining natural breaks.
I then made the text small so it fits on the front and back of a regular sheet of paper.
If you're a Christian, I highly recommend a daily practice of spending time with God. Make Him one of the five people you spend the most time with. If you get discouraged by every day reading plans, check this one out. If this one isn't a fit, there are hundreds of others to choose from.
Thanks for checking it out. I'd love any and all feedback since I just made it and will be using it for the first time this year.
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