My new favorite devotional book

I have used a lot of different devotional books in my day, with varying degrees of success. I remember being enamored, long ago when I was in college and sort of a Jesus-fanatic, of a classic called God Calling, which I read more-or-less faithfully for a while. (I don't remember how long.) God Calling was supposed to be the voice of God coming directly to me—and all of the other people who bought the book as well. I also vaguely remember a book called Come Away, My Beloved. The title makes alone time with God seem sort of, well, seductive, in a way. I don't remember if the contents of the book delivered on that promise.

Then there was the task of finding a daily Bible reading. It seemed so simple back then. Had I ever read the entire Gospel of John? No, I had not. So, I did. A little every night. Afterwards, I waded through Romans, with no outside help from theologians. I had heard a lot of Bible in church, but had not sat down and read most of it for myself.

Sometime later, everything seemed to get more difficult. No bragging here, but between those old Jesus-fanatic days and seminary and the work of being a pastor, I actually have sat down and read a lot of the Bible for myself. What do I do now? I would find myself at a loss as to how to order my days. I still longed for the structure of daily devotions, but somehow I had a hard time sticking to a daily discipline. Even now, this is true. I think I should have a daily discipline, and I have tried many many good daily discipline ideas. There is nothing wrong with any of them. (Well, maybe there have been a couple which were kind of cheesy.) I have prayed in color and prayed while knitting. I have prayed the hours and prayed the Psalms. I have prayed with beads and with icons, and I am now curious about praying the alphabet.