Contrary to modern wisdom, I typically don’t start feeding my babies solid foods at the recommended 4-6 months of age. 

Rather, as long as they are happy, healthy, and growing, I much prefer to wait until they themselves start showing signs and cues of interest in other food besides my self. 

Personally, I love being their one and only food source and relish lingering in this special occupation for as long as possible. 

However, around nine months or so they inevitably start reaching and grabbing for anything and everything they can get their chubby little hands on, and before you know it, Red is sitting in a highchair, gnawing on a rib bone like nobody’s business. 

When I take in the wonderful sight of Red’s plump thighs, tummy, arms, and cheeks I can’t help but swell with a bit of pride over the thought that I did that all by myself. (Special thanks to the High King and His awe-inspiring design for and of humans, of course.)

It never ceases to amaze me how big and fast babies grow on nothing but mother’s milk. It is incredible! In a span of just a few months time they double their birth weight, crawl, climb, sometimes walk, and advance in a whole host of cognitive developments to boot, fueled, nutritionally speaking, by several small meals (we’re talking just ounces) of milk each day. 

Around the beginning of the year, I found myself floundering for a new approach to my personal Bible study. Last year I did an online audio Bible. The year before that an immersion series. My daughter suggested a new reading plan. I considered a Bible study. But nothing seemed to inspire or excite me.

For as much as I LOVE TO READ, Bible reading itself has rarely come easy to me, and this is a continual source of frustration and doubt. I want to love and enjoy reading my Bible like I love and enjoy reading Austen, but the brutal truth is I don’t, which obviously means there is something detrimentally wrong? Right? 

As I so often do, I turned to my big sister for help and advice. 

“Have you ever tried the James Method?”she asked me.

My thoughts: You mean that trendy looking ad that keeps popping up on Facebook, beguiling me with pretty notebooks, highlighters, and pens (and let’s be honest, just a teensy bit more than actual scripture?)

“Ummm, no…have you?”

Turns out she has and also that she loves it. Notebooks, pens, highlighters and all, but mostly the actual scripture.

It was worth a try.

I whipped out my Christmas Money Visa card (Thanks, Mom & Dad) and placed an order.

I must say by this point my excitement was building, which, to me, meant progress. Big progress as far as my Bible reading journey goes. 

We’ll briefly skip the part where I also ordered an Amazon truck load of new pens, stamps, stickers and highlighters to go with my pretty, mint green verse mapping journal and the 4-6 weeks I spent watching You Tube videos on verse mapping and the subsequent time it took me to work up enough courage to actually try mapping my first verse and go on to my happy verdict….

Drumroll, please:

I LOVE IT!!!

For those unfamiliar with the James Method of verse mapping, in a nutshell, it is a Bible study approach that takes one or two verses of scripture and dissects them one word at a time. 

Or, put another way, it is a feast of Biblical goodness, taken in and digested bite by tiny bite. 

My approach and intention with Bible study has always focused on reading as much of my Bible as possible in order to make sure I was getting enough. Never in a million years did I stop to consider that I could be deeply filled and satisfied with such small portions.

Just like Red, and all his chubby-chub-chubs, that grows with a few milky ounces at a time, my experience of the High King and His Good Book is being nourished and fed in much the same way. 

Currently my intake of actual scripture is extremely small, but its impact is deep and lasting, and my enthusiasm to spend time digging for golden morsels of knowledge, encouragement, insight, and wisdom is similar to Red when he sees a rib bone.

All throughout the Bible we see examples of the High King and his fondness for things that are small. Children, sparrows, ants, the hairs on my head, and flowers that toil and spin to name a few. Yet our culture is obsessed with the idea that big is better. 

I am only four verses into my James Method journey, but I can already see that sometimes less really is more and that tiny bites of truth and goodness can be just what I need to grow. 

I look at Red and marvel again and again at how fast he grows. Sometimes I swear I can see it happening right before my eyes. It is nothing short of amazing to be his mom. To get to be the one that loves him and nurtures him unlike any other. 

The High King Himself is loving me, feeding me with His word, and nourishing me with the time we’re spending together. 

And for someone who has spent far too long crying with hunger for something to fill, it is good to finally feel full.