[Series] · Day [number] of [total]
[Title that names the point]
How to use this template
Write the thought to carry first: the point in under 15 words. Everything else serves it: one passage, one story, one action, a short prayer.
The reflection has two moves. First a story: one moment on one day, with things a reader can see and hear, usually from your own life (100 to 175 words). Then the turn: the passage in its own setting, with only the background a reader needs, and where the story and the text meet (60 to 120 words). Claim no more than the verse says.
Aim for 250 to 450 words in all, or your publication's limit. If your translation's publisher asks for a copyright notice, add it to the last line. Delete this box, the example and the checklist before you share it.
See an example: New every morning
Read: Lamentations 3:19–24
Key verse: “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:23, KJV)
Story: My daughter's kindergarten teacher keeps a whiteboard by the classroom door. Every afternoon she wipes it clean, and every morning it says the same thing in green marker: Today is a new day. Last spring, after a week of notes sent home and tears at pickup, my daughter stopped in the doorway, read it out loud, and walked in.
Turn: Lamentations was written after Jerusalem fell, by someone who had watched it burn. Most of chapter 3 is complaint, and the poem doesn't pretend otherwise. But halfway through, the writer remembers something he didn't earn: the Lord's mercies haven't run out. They come again, like the morning, whether or not yesterday went well.
For today: Before bed, name one thing from today you'd like to leave behind, and leave it there.
Prayer: Lord, thank you that your mercies are new every morning. Meet me tomorrow before I've done anything to deserve it. Amen.
Thought to carry: Yesterday doesn't get the first word tomorrow.
Read:
The key verse, word for word, and its reference.
The story, then the turn to the passage.
For today
One action small enough to do before tonight.
Prayer
Two to four sentences that borrow a word from the verse.
Amen.
Thought to carry
The point, in under 15 words.
Optional: Going deeper
Also read:
To reflect on:
For groups:
Scripture quotation from the [translation].
Before you share
One point, one story, one action
The whole chapter around the passage read, so the verse means here what it means there
The key verse checked word for word, and its reference correct
The turn claims no more than the verse says
Within your word limit; 250 to 450 words is typical
Read aloud after a day away from it
The how-to, the example and this checklist deleted