Bible Reading Is Important

As a Christian, I love the Bible. I love starting my day off by reading God's Word. I have been reading through the entire Bible every year for several years now. One of the things I strive to do as a parent is instill Biblical values in my daughter. I want her to love the Bible and love God as God wants us to. I want her to see worship services as a time to praise, worship and give thanks to our Creator and Bible class as a time to learn and study. I want her to grow up to love the Word and be the Christian that is found in the pages of the Bible.
I've been happy with her progress so far. She knows who God and Jesus are. She enjoys going to Bible class. She will participate once in a while. Even when she refuses to participate, I know her little brain is soaking in the Bible stories and learning the songs. Most importantly, she is receiving the foundation she needs to continue to study and learn from the Bible.

One thing I've been lacking on is teaching her at home. We pray before nap time, bed time and meals. We sing "Jesus Loves Me" before bed time each night. We talk about God's creation. But I want to do more.

Last year (2010) I read the Bible out loud to Chloe Jo all year. That was tedious and my voice often got dry and tired by the end of the reading so I haven't done that this year. Then I read a book that had a section about a Bible reading plan that is specifically designed to be read at church services. Every service, a portion of the Bible is read and at the end of 3 years, the congregation will have read through the entire Bible. I presented that idea to Russ for the congregation we are members of, but then thought to myself, "Self, why don't you look for a daily 3 year plan for Chloe Jo?"

And that's what I did. I printed it out and tonight we did our first reading before her bed time. While I was printing the plan out I explained to her that we were going to read the Bible each night before she goes to sleep. I also told her that I would leave the Bible (we have several and the one we are using is one of my old childhood Bibles) and the plan in her room. After she went potty and brushed her teeth, we both climbed into her bed and she laid very still and listened as I read the Word of God to her. We then said a prayer and sang "Jesus Loves Me." Before we turned out the light, she asked if the special Bible would stay in her room.

And my heart smiled.

And God smiled.

The 3-Year Daily Bible Reading schedule we are using is {here}.