What I'm (Currently) Using in My Quiet Time
With the new year came a new plan for my Bible study time, and it’s been going pretty well so far! I’ve made some adjustments after quickly realizing my goals were too ambitious (surprise, surprise) and it’s been great to zero in on the New Testament with some new resources to help me dive deep.
I shared a picture on Instagram of my handy new quiet time basket (snagged it at Target), and it might seem silly, but keeping everything corralled that way has made my early morning “trek” from my bed to the kitchen table even easier, which has in turn helped me make it happen every morning! Sitting by this therapy lamp (thanks for the Christmas gift, Dad!) helps me wake up too. Basically, find what will work for you, and do that! Even if it’s silly like keeping everything in a cute basket or turning on a SAD lamp. WHATEVER WORKS.
I wanted to share more about all the things I keep in my basket, so here you go!
ps— there are affiliate links in this post!
Here’s everything I’m using (and loving) these days:
I’m loving this parallel Bible (it has NIV, NLT, NKJV, and The Message all side by side!) and it’s making me happy to have that new little paper bag cover on it too! It wasn’t the prettiest cover on its own, so I whipped that up and now it really SPARKS SOME JOY. Anyway. It’s great not to have to pull out a bunch of different Bibles to read things in other versions, and it’s really helped me get more out of my Bible reading. Highly recommend a Bible like this! (if you don’t want to buy one, there’s a great online version here!)
I originally planned to go through the New Testament in 90 days, so I took this BibleStudyTools.com plan (found on the site or the app!) and turned it into a handy PDF download (perks of working for BibleStudyTools.com and Crosscards.com as a design editor for my real job!) buuuuuut I quickly found I wanted to spend more time with what I was reading, so I’ve scaled back to only tackling a chapter or two a day instead of rushing to get through three! I’m not using a printable to track it, but instead just tracking my daily goal of having a quiet time on my PowerSheets.
A new addition to my Bible study this year is this incredible Women’s Bible Commentary that takes a fresh look at Scripture through a feminist perspective, highlighting women in ways I’ve never seen before. It’s challenging me, helping me think about things more deeply and comprehensively, and it’s really a great resource I’m glad I discovered.
As always, I’m writing all of my notes, thoughts, and prayers in my trusty Moleskine journal — the hard cover, black, grid paper version. It’s my favorite and I can’t foresee ever loving a different journal as much as I love this one. (I think I’m on my 5th or 6th one?!)
These are my favorite black pens, I like these colored pens, and these colored rollerball pens are my newest favorites (they’re the ones pictured above).
I read a daily meditation in this book each morning — Melody Beattie writes BRILLIANTLY on codependency, and I’m so grateful my counselor introduced me to her (with this book!). Codependency was a term I really knew much about, or a thing I felt like was relevant to me… but DANG, is it RELEVANT. This book is just so grounding, so centering, and so helpful for me as I process through relationships in my life, my own healing and growth, and overall just how to be a happy, healthy, thriving human being. It’s so good. (And not Christianity specific, if you were wondering! Although I do take a lot of her meditation thoughts and turn them into prayers.)
Lastly, I take a few seconds each day to jot down my response to the daily prompt in this 5-year journal! I’m on year two of going through it, and it’s fun to see the similarities and differences between my responses even in just a year. The prompt is different every day, and it literally takes less than a minute to respond, so it’s easy to keep up with. Looking forward to keeping this one going for the next few years!
