No Bible, No Breakfast! No Bible, No Bed!

Sometimes, I just never know what the brown envelopes at the post office will hold. Often, it's books. But every so often, there's a bookish-non-book that catches my attention in a way I just have to share.

Let me introduce you to Fr. Larry Richards' Scripture Desk Calendar, which has the subtitle, "No Bible, No Breakfast! No Bible, No Bed!"

This is a daily flip calendar that can be used perennially. Each day has two entries: a Bible verse for your morning, with a little one or two sentence injunction from Fr. Larry Richards.

I have a love-hate relationship with desk calendars. I love the idea of them, but I tend to not be consistent with them these days, in part because I do my work at my desk and at the table, on the couch, in the kitchen, at the library, at a friend's...you see how it is.

But I love the idea of taking a little bit of scripture before breakfast and before bed. Says Fr. Larry in the introduction,

"This perpetual calendar will help you begin and end each day with an encounter with Jesus Christ in His Word. I encourage you to pray to the Holy Spirit before you read the verse every morning and every night, so that it is God Himself who reveals His Word to you."

Let's take a look at September 26 to get a sense of it. The calendar tells me that it's the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian.

"Much will be required of the person entrusted with much." (Luke 12:48)

We all have been given much—Jesus Christ—so much is expected from us!

~ ~ ~

I will be glad and exult in you; / I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. (Psalm 9:2, ESV)

Let tonight be about praising God, not us. Pax.

By my calculations, this calendar is asking for about two minutes of my morning and two minutes before bed. It's so simple that I can't help but think it's brilliant: many of my devotional failures are because I try to overcomplicate things.

This isn't complicated. It's not hard. But it is an invitation to something very important.

And if I fail...well, there's always the next day. And the next.

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