Breaking in a New Bible

I have a confession to make.

I have been “stalking” other people’s Bibles for the last year or so. My husband and I sit on the front pew at church, so there have been many visiting preachers that sit in front or around us. I’ve stolen glances at their open Bibles, checking out font size, margin size, placement of references and definitions. Sometimes I’ve even been bold enough to inquire about what kind of Bible they had and where they got it.

Meanwhile, I’ve continued to use my Bible that I have had for about 18 years. I would carefully smooth wrinkling pages, tuck pages back in place, and tape pages to provide more reinforcement. More recently I would leave chunks of pages at home so I wouldn’t have to worry about them falling out. The pages looked dirty, yellowed and faded. My notes were also fading or looking too “messy” because I had accumulated so many!

Every time I would make up my mind to get a new Bible, I would look at my well-worn pages and decide it wasn’t necessary yet.

Honestly, I kind of dreaded getting a new Bible (even though I wanted one). I could find almost anything in my old Bible! I could tell you which side of the page it was on, what color of highlighter had been used, or if it was underlined or not. I could look back and be reminded of verses the Lord had used to encourage me. There were even things taped in the front of my Bible, like this:

You see, I’ve had this well-loved Bible since I was just 20 years old. It really is the only Bible I’ve used as an “adult.” I have grown up with it–physically and more importantly, spiritually.

Well, I finally decided to go for it.

New year, new Bible!

I am thankful for the patient friend who went with me to Mardel and waited for over an hour as I had all kinds of Bibles laid out on the floor in front of me. It took what seemed like forever for me to narrow down my choices and even then I left hoping I would like this new Bible. My friend reminded me that it would just take some time to get used to and to give it a chance.

As I type this, I’m realizing that maybe I am a little crazy.

Hopefully, some of you are crazy too and understand how difficult this was for me! 😉

Anyway, I’m excited to say I now have a new Bible and I’m slowly breaking it in…

Talk about growth…The last time I got a new Bible, I sat down and in one afternoon copied my highlighting and notes from my old one! That isn’t even an option after 18 years, but it is getting there.

Just look at those crisp, white pages! 🙂

I hope you have a well-loved Bible too, and if not, why not start showing it some love today?

Crystal