Lectio Divina

I've spent the past two years reading through the Bible using the God Sightings website. And yes, it is a one year plan. I did a slow track where I missed half of the days.

Reading through the Bible in a year (or two) is a great way to get a big picture view of the Bible. You see how everything ties together. You read stories you must've read before (if you've read the Bible entirely before), but you forgot they were in there. You find surprises that make you say, "Wow! That's in the Bible?!"

But having gotten that 10,000 foot view, I've dedicated this year to getting a magnifying glass view instead. I want to spend this year pulling out small passages of Scripture and soaking them in. Really taking my time reading and meditating on them. And to do this, I'm using a method of Scripture meditation based off of Lectio Divina.

I don't know if I'm following the steps quite exactly. But this is what I'm doing: I'm choosing a passage that's fairly short. 5 or 6 verses max. I begin by just being still for a minute or two. Trying to clear my mind of all the distractions that often come when I'm reading the Bible or praying. Thoughts about work, and to-do list items, potential Facebook statuses, and how cute my dogs are. (Their cuteness is a big distraction in general.)

Once I am ready to focus on God, I read through the whole passage, slowly, a couple of times. Then I just do a couple verses, however long I feel like is good to digest. I read those verses over and over, and then I have time where I just listen to God. I pray that he will show me what he wants me to understand from those verses. Then I read them again a couple times, and pray about them, talking to God about them - whether that's praise, confession, or a prayer that he will work in my life that pertains to the verses.

I'm starting with Psalm 93. The first several passages I choose will be based on wanting to allow God to define me this year, and I want to be defined in terms of who he is. Psalm 93 is full of descriptions of God. So far I'm getting a lot out of it. And each day during this time, one thing I meditate on is what one of the descriptions says about me. I have a craft project involving mirrors that I'm making based on these reflections. (Ha! Mirrors...reflections!)

It's very different than the fire hose method of reading Scripture in a year. I think it's nice to switch things up. And a great bonus to Lectio Divina - you memorize Scripture without even meaning to! Just by reading it so many times and reflecting on it, the words are in your head. So then when you're driving or whatever, you can ponder the words some more.