Some of us struggle with scripture reading simply because we feel like we’re not good readers. We get distracted. We lose track of what’s going on after four or five words. We have to read and re-read stuff four or five times. One thing we all need is to develop strategies that help us with our particular struggles. We need to develop our muscles for reading, focusing, and thinking. Contrary to popular opinion, it can be done. But like any muscle development, it takes work. Work! At the end of last year I put together a document (which is also over on our resources page) which attempts to help. One of the suggestions I made there was to write out what you were reading. It helps you slow down your thinking, keeps you awake because you’re physically doing something, and involves more of your senses. I recently started a trip through the Psalms with a fresh unlined journal and the intention of writing out every Psalm. I want to use it as a tool for meditation, and make the actual writing reflect what I’m seeing as I read. (That’s my page for Psalm 2 pictured above.) A blank notebook works fine (my dad once sent my all of Philippians hand-written in one of those miniature steno-notebooks), but if you need more structure, there’s a new product out called Journibles, where they pre-print the page with verse numbers for the book of the bible you’re working through. You can see their website here. And here’s a video describing the product: