Rachel Ramey

We need to allow ourselves to think outside the box a little and consider why Bible reading matters and whether there are other practices that can accomplish the same thing in addition to — or, yes, sometimes even instead of — sitting and reading individually. I highly recommend making time for it (them) if you possibly can, even if it’s just five minutes a day to read or a single half-hour block of study in a week. * Scripture music – Playing Scripture set to music as you go about your day is an excellent way to take in a lot of Scripture (albeit usually not in large chunks) when you aren’t able to take time out from your necessary tasks. But overvaluing how the “reading” is happening and undervaluing all these other routes of exposure can lead us to look at the mama who’s attending church every week, reading the Bible every night with her family, and listening to Scripture on her stereo all day most days, and conclude that she’s falling short as a Christian because she isn’t also setting aside a second time of day (in addition to the family worship time) to read the Bible for only herself.

The Love the Word Bible Study Binder works together beautifully with my prayer binder*, and the way I usually put that together with the materials I’m using for my current studies. You could easily do this instead of the binder setup I have, to use in tandem with the binder setup I have (e.g. keep your permanent record in here, and use it alongside the more changeable binder system), or use these methods to jazz up the binder system I use. Melissa Tumino’s Bible Study Planner and Workbook reminds me a lot of the Bible study book I often recommend, Learn to Study the Bible, by Andy Deane. I’d say these go about moderate in depth, so they’re probably good for a lot of adults, but also good for use with older kids and teens, but possibly a little less useful for those who are very experienced with Bible study.

I also have two or three favorite ink colors I use regularly (like burgundy & teal). I like that the gel ink of the G-2s is really smooth, because when I’m doing regular writing, I really like for my pen to just glide across the page. You can use metallic gel pens similarly, although the effect will obviously be a bit different, and I do like my Pilot G-2s for that. I’ve never used a super-expensive pen, like a Mont Blanc, to compare (frankly, I wouldn’t want to use a pen that expensive because I’d be too worried about losing it!)

I like the idea of swatching on smaller cards in sleeves like this, because you can arrange, rearrange, and sort as necessary, take them out if you need to, and swatch on different types of paper on the same page (e.g. if you need to swatch some colors on a black background) This method probably works better for craft supplies than art supplies, where this might get bulky and expensive for swatching full sets of colored pencils, Copic markers, etc. (For instance, crafters & journalers swatching white gel pens often want to know how they behave on black paper and over top of other media, like paint or alcohol ink.) If Your Markers/Pens Are Dried Out As you’re swatching, you may come across some dried-out markers or pens.