Through the Bible...

I need a change.

Something fresh.

This pretty well summarized my thoughts as I began to reflect on various spiritual practices that I would engage going into 2012.

Over the years, there have been various ways of engaging Scripture that I've found helpful. For the past several years, I've targeted specific books of the Bible and/or passages to explore, ruminate and study. This year, the desire began to grow to read through the complete Bible from the beginning.

This type of reading plan has often frustrated me, given that I tend to prefer a slower more contemplative reading of Scripture. That being said, this year I'm hoping to be able to accomplish both.

As I'm reading through each day, I am looking for those moments where it seems most needed to slow down, pause and prayerfully reflect and journal about what's there. I'm super excited about the new discoveries that will be found this year...

Two new items that I'm really excited about: The Mosaic Bible and Glo Bible.

I was looking for a new Bible to work through. I didn't want a study Bible, yet I was looking for something that would offer something fresh to my weekly reflections. I came across the Mosaic Bible which does just that. At the front it has weekly reflections-meditations that coincide with the Christian calendar.

The following is a brief explanation by Tyndale:

Holy Bible: Mosaic is about helping you encounter Christ in a deep and authentic way, through insight from every continent and century of the Christian Church. Historical and contemporary art and writings from across the globe offer a depth of Scriptural wisdom and understanding as you read and reflect on God’s word.

Mosaic is arranged so that every week has variety of content for reading and reflection. Each week follows a theme appropriate to the Church season (such as Advent, Easter, etc). The content included for each week includes full-color art; Scripture readings; a historical reading; a contemporary reading; a prayer, creed, hymn or quote; and space for reflection.

The other resource that I'm using is Glo Bible software. As I'm reading through, I'm using Glo's "journal/add note" feature to capture thoughts, insights, reflections and prayers. For just under $35, you can sync notes from up to five devices. This works well for accessing/input from my phone, as well as from my desktop. It also works in partnership with YouVersion.