Devotions

For many years I struggled with doing daily devotions and spending time in the word.  I talked with others and they made various suggestions from using my music as a devotion to various books that I might want to look at, but nothing never really took hold.  Finally last summer I got an NIV Study Bible and found a plan to read through the Bible in a year.  Along with reading the Bible, I started writing about it.  Often this takes the form of a recap of the passage, but sometimes it gets more in depth.  Anyway, things have gone well, but I didn't realize the true impact of my devotional life until this past weekend.  Renee and I went to visit her parents and I had every intention of not getting behind on my reading, but I did.  By late Saturday/early Sunday I was actually feeling the effects.  I wasn't my usual self.  I don't know if anyone else knew it but I felt off.  Having not done devotions since Wednesday, I was out of sorts.  It was an interesting revelation that I have finally gotten to the point where starting the day with devotional time actually has a profound impact on my day.  I'm not sure yet what I am going to do when I get through the Bible.  I may read through it again in a different order (chronological vs. cover to cover) or possibly find a good devotional to read each day and meditate on.  Whatever it is, I know that maintaining a devotion is an important part of my life now and I can't afford to get away from it.