My New Year's resolution that stays the same every year

In 2016 I read this article from Desiring God and it encouraged me to read the Bible all the way through for the first time in my (then) 14 years of being a Christian (despite probably covering most of the books in church and study, I was never confident that I’d read it ALL.) 

I chose another plan in 2019 and it took me two full years again with three kids and the ups and downs of life, but I’ve loved it so much and it has been a blessing in my relationship with God and others. 

It is a new year and there is a lot being thrown at us to make ourselves new, to redeem what might have been taken from us last year, to start fresh with a clean slate. There is nothing wrong with those goals and I too enjoy thinking of the nascent twelve months ahead and what I'd like to accomplish within them. 

Let me encourage you to also ground yourself in the Word of the one who was and is and is to come. I love that I don't have to be a "new year, new me" before Jesus. I come to him exactly the same as I always have been (with a few more wrinkles and still many mistakes) and as always, he showers me with grace undeserved. I am refreshed by the same-ness of my relationship with him. 

The Desiring God article has some links to great reading plans - I used the For Shirkers and Slackers plan the first time and the The Discipleship Journal from the Navigators plan most recently (though I wasn't super strict in following the assigned days and sometimes strayed from the checklist and read through entire books in a sitting). 

Here are even more reading plans from Ligonier. I am going to try either the Legacy or Every Word in the Bible plans for 2021. 

And we keep it real around here - I forgot to print the plan out before today so I read Psalms today and I'll start tomorrow, on January 2. I think Jesus will be A-okay with that.