Friday, January 9, 2009

Do you write in your Bible?

I do. A lot.

I've been wondering what other people think.

I'd say writing in my Bible is another one of the things that really allowed me to draw closer to God. I think about the Bible as Life's Little Instruction Book. I don't know about you, but I take that pretty seriously. When I see something important, or super relevant to what I need to be working on - I mark it. Circle it. Highlight it. Underline it. Don't tell anyone, but I even wrote DUDE! next to a verse one time. I should go get it and see which one.

hmmm... I can't find where I wrote DUDE! but I found lots of places with question marks, a WOO -HOO!, an OUCH, lots of these *, a WOW, a LOVE IT!, another ouch...

I found it. Now I don't know if I want to share...



Okay.



I'll share.



Proverbs 25:24 Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.



Yeah... I must have been a treat to live with when I came across that. Why else would I have written DUDE!?


Have I mentioned that I'm a work in progress?


There are also multiple places where I reference another scripture to look at, cultural information about when and to whom it was written that brings light to a passage, information given in a sermon that made me do that, mmmm.... noise.

In the New Testament, I have more pages with marks on them than not. The Psalms are full of my chicken scratch. I read a Proverb every day and the first few times through, I underlined something almost every day.

I don't write in my Bible because I can't find scrap paper. I carry a journal every where I carry my Bible. I write in it because I want it and everything I learn about it to TRANSFORM my life. I write in it because there is so much good stuff in there, that I want to reference on a daily basis, and I can't remember where all of it is. I know when I was in the ICU waiting room, I used pencil to underline and write all over the book of Psalm. I know that my first year teaching I used a pink marker to underline a lot of stuff. Even if I don't remember when or why or in what color I underlined something, I know that what I'm looking for is underlined in red or has a blue asterisk next to it. I know, because I've read it over and over and over.

It has helped me to hide God's Word in my heart. It has helped me help others in their time of need. It has helped me to remember. It has helped me.

Do you write in your Bible?

7 comments:

~jen~ said...

No, I've never written in my Bible. It's so "pretty" that I don't want to mark it up. Isn't that sad? I like your take though...that's good. My husband's grandma has a bible she left behind when she passed and I leafed through it one day. I was amazed to see it written ALL over...underlined, asterisked, exclamations...and lots of notes in the sidebars and in the back. She was a preacher's wife...God bless her...that's the first time I've ever experienced someone writing in a Bible.
I think it's something I might consider doing...thanks for the nudge!

Rachel said...

That is awesome about Mike's grandma's Bible. I love the thought of Chloe's daughter getting my Bible and seeing that I USED it! Very cool. I don't know that it's a right or wrong thing. I'm sure there are some people that would think it was a SIN to write in a Bible. I guess whatever works for people. This is definitely what works for me...

suzannah | the smitten word said...

i definitely underline til my heart's content. when i had a study bible with bigger margins i wrote notes and comments. now i have a lil mini bible and save my commentary for my journal (or blog.)

i say go for it! the Word is living and active--engage it:)

Mary H. said...

I keep a Praise and Prayers journal, where I do most of my re-writing and marking. I don't often mark in my Bible. However, I'm not going to hold back any more. I'll be sure to let you know if I ever feel lead to write the word "dude" in my Bible.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I write in my bible. One of my favorite things to do is put a date next to a scripture verse or passage and why it was impactful to me. Some verses have two or three dates! One of the things that got me writing in my bible was that I got it slightly used, with some notes already in it. The funny thing is, I like having them there! :)

Hillary @ The Other Mama said...

Yes- I write all over mine. And I love finding something has already been underlined, starred- or has musical notes by it to remind me that it's a song!

And thanks for your comment. Yes- grandma could read the fine print! She's a spring chicken!! :-) You are too funny!

Donna @ Way More Homemade said...

Yes, I'm a Bible writer. In fact, check out my post tomorrow for a project I'm working on that is all about writing in a Bible. You might enjoy doing something similar.

Thanks for your encouraging comments on my WFMW post today. I, too got a lot of encouragement from the net... not from that blog you posted but from a forum on babycenter.com.

Nice meeting you today!