It’s the New Year! My team and I are rejoicing in God’s goodness to us in many ways in the year now behind us, despite the extraordinary challenges and disruptions we’ve all faced, as we look ahead to what He has in store for us in 2021.

Many contemplate what’s ahead this year, including inevitable challenges and difficulties, with anxiety or even dread. But not us. There are definitely challenges for us, like everyone else, but we view them as opportunities to “shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life”, something the world around us desperately needs (Philippians 2:15-16).

But here’s the thing about shining as lights in a world that urgently needs that light: we shine as long as, and only as long as, we hold fast to God’s Word, “the word of life.” If we’re holding fast, we’re shining; if we’re not holding fast, we’re not shining. It’s that simple.

So what’s involved in “holding fast to the word”? In my devotions this morning I saw an answer to that question in Psalm 1. You know how it starts – “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers” (v. 1).

The answer is in the next verse: “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” In other words, holding fast to God’s Word involves loving his Word and letting it fill and shape our thoughts and ultimately our choices.

When we delight in something, we dwell on it. We look for opportunities to work it into our life. In fact, we may even order our lives around it, so it has a regular place that we guard so other things, even good things, don’t interfere.

You see where I’m going with this. I know it’s challenging to do this with God’s Word, with all the responsibilities and priorities we juggle. It seems to me the ones who have the hardest time of this, and who I admire most when they manage to actually do it even on a limited basis, are moms of young children.

That’s one reason I find the attached printable Bible reading plan so helpful. It’s a guide to read through the Bible in a year with built-in catch-up periods each month. And even if you can’t manage to make it through the whole Bible in a year, no problem. Make it a two-year reading plan, or a three-year plan, or whatever.

The key is to just start. And if you do, if your experience is like mine, the Word will draw you in. You’ll find yourself treasuring the few minutes you spend prayerfully reading it so much that those minutes will stretch over time, and you’ll grow to so look forward to them that you start adjusting your schedule to make it a priority.

Again, the key is to just start. I pray you will find this plan helpful to you in your Bible reading this year and that you will “shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.”