In the Margin

Over the years I have developed a habit, or perhaps a skill, as I read Scripture. I write in the margins of my Bible. Over the years I have used and worn out several Bibles, but I still save them all so I can refer to my notes.

I have sometimes noticed people looking over my shoulder and reacting in awe or horror that I am marking up a Bible. Some have encouraged me to use one of the many free apps to download the Bible to my phone, telling me that I can make notes there too. I have tried that, but I still find it distracting because once I have done all the tapping it takes to review or create a note, I’ve forgotten the thought that made me ‘tap’ in the first place. Nope, my scribbling, underlining and arrow drawing just seem to work for me. For instance, when I turn to Philippians 2 around verse 13, my note in the margin reminds me to trust that God is doing the ‘steering’ in my life, and I am expected to provide the forward momentum. 

What do I use my notes for? Well, mostly to construct “guardrails” in my life, one of which you just heard, “Keep your hands off the steering wheel.”  The notes are typically a ‘revelation’ or sometimes a reminder from a past message I have listened to or a comment someone has made to me. 

So, when I am studying, I write a note if there’s something II feel I need to remember when I come to this place again in review or future study.

I jot down notes not only in the margin of my Bible, but also in any blank space I can find inside the covers, or on blank pages. Later, when I’m reading, I find these notes and somehow, over time they have gained a wisdom all their own. So, I have somehow captured a form of ‘enlightenment’ which somehow adds up to more than its original meaning. I sometimes joke that ‘gremlins’ have come and changed the notes while I was asleep.

As I look through my Bible, I have some sort of note on every page, some are very clear, some lead to other parts of Scripture, and some I can’t even read (I call it “writing in tongues”). The point is that they are there. It is kind of a wisdom savings account. The idea is they are there, to review them when I take future trips into Scripture and, of course to heed the urging of the Spirit when he speaks to me through them. 

As I write or review the ‘chapters’ of my life, I ask myself: What do I find I’ve written in the margins? And what wisdom has been ‘added by gremlins’ over the years? And what impact do the notes have on me? Do the notes bring joy? Remorse? Resentment? Do they move me to action? Make me hide? Whatever they do for me, these are the experiences and thoughts God has blessed me with. I cherish each one and keep on adding to them.

I wonder how it might impact your life to start writing in the margins?