Learn to love time with God

Many people make promises to themselves as the calendar year changes. We call them resolutions.
One of the most popular is to decide to read the Bible regularly, even every day. Read it from cover to cover.
Alas, like the promises to exercise regularly, to quit smoking or to lose weight, we often fall short of our plan to read the Bible daily. Miss a day, get behind, and we quit altogether.
Our pastor, Phil Wages at Winterville First Baptist Church, covered this Sunday night in his teaching. He had some excellent resources, including Freedom from Quiet Time Guilt, by Greg Johnson, St. Louis Center for Christian Study, and How Not To Read Your Bible in 2013. Their main point is to not turn Bible reading into a legalistic chore that essentially robs you of the main benefit of the practice.
Having a quiet time with the Lord is a great thing to do on a regular basis. But it is not something to be approached as a chore. Our attitude should be more akin to how we relate to those we love the most.
I will be celebrating my 40th anniversary this summer. I still love spending time with Jan. I don't have to make a list of ways to relate to her. (Call Jan at work, say hello when we get home, kiss her good night). I want to do those things and more because I treasure our relationship. I don't have to think about wanting to do those things. Of course, there are days when we don't relate much to one another because of conflicting schedules and the like. But instead of saying, "Well, might as well quit," we just naturally chalk it up to a busy schedule and pick up where we left off. Of course, if those days of not relating went on for too long, then the relationship would suffer, so we don't let that happen.
It is the same with God. You can't get to know someone if you don't spend time with him or her. If we approach our relationship with God more like that of our most loved family members, we will learn to look forward to time with God, not consider it a chore.
So did into God's word this year. Do it every day. But if you miss a day, don't give up. Just start back.