#operationreadmybible (Part 6: What if I don't like it?)

Here’s what I’ve learned about the most beautiful things: they’re hard to appreciate at first.

Like, I don’t know, mothering, let’s say. Mothering is exhausting. And hard. And, at least for me, the early “pay off” was pretty low. A smile every so often. Maybe, if you’re lucky, your kid will say say your name before he learns the word for dinosaur (but inevitably after he learns dad, plane, and dog).

You have to work really hard at mothering but eventually, after a long time, you get the hang of it and it’s not so hard, and you start seeing the blessings in the effort.

Reading your Bible is like that.

Or like learning to drink black coffee. Which is gross at first. Ten cups in it’s still gross. But a year from that first cup you’ll be rhapsodizing and posting memes to your Facebook wall.

Reading the Bible for the first time isn’t exactly gross (it can be great), but it’s nothing like reading the Bible for the hundredth time.

It gets SO MUCH better.

If you struggle to read your Bible because it’s not delicious, don’t worry, it will be. If you keep reading.

My advice: Get yourself a habit.

Sit down. Open the book. Read.

Do that every day for thirty days and you’ll be well on your way to learning to like Bible reading.

To close, here’s a thought from my friend Jennifer on what a Bible reading habit can grow into:

I read my Bible because it reaches deep into me with words I cannot express on my own.

I read the Bible because it speaks to me and reveals a God my soul longs for.

I read the Bible because the story is fascinating.

I read the Bible because it really is food. I read it because it admonishes, and teaches, and encourages, and slaps me across the face sometimes.

I read it because it is lovely.

But it took years of reading and years of studying before I finally got to this point.