This idea is from one of my all-time favorite books, A Woman After God’s Own Heart, by Elizabeth George.
In her book, she discusses the importance of intentional spiritual growth. Instead of reading anything that comes your way, she suggests picking five areas you’d like to grow in and limit your studying to those five areas.
You’ll collect information as you go and before long, you’ll have five fat files. I am an avid reader, and to some extent I was already doing this. Except I had several areas of interest and I was definitely interested in narrowing it down to become an expert in five areas.
She gives lots of ideas in her book and examples of how women have grown and even been approached to teach classes on the subjects they decided to study.
My five areas are:
- Family (anything to do with marriage, family, parenting, and children)
- Home keeping (Organization, cleaning, menu planning, etc.)
- Homeschool (everything on the subject for now, since I’m new)
- Writing (Craft, technique, inspiration, and more)
- Discipleship (Especially anything geared towards mentoring girls and women)
The first thing you will do is set up your 5 files. This is the easy part, just label five files with your areas of choice. Deciding on five areas might be harder. I had to cut mine down from ten! Some more ideas include: The Bible, prayer, health, finances, joy, cooking, and anything you can imagine.
Pray over your choices, and then get started! You will put copies of articles, bible verses, book notes, sermon notes, URLs, bible studies and much more as you go. I use a notebook for Bible verses on each subject that I jot down as I come across them in my daily reading.
Since I have a lot of books on each of these subjects, I also included a book list of books I own that pertain to each subject, and where to find it on my bookshelf. (Find more ideas on filling your 5 fat files)
Right before I read this book, Eric brought home four large file drawers for me. Coincidence? I think not! I have a separate portable file for my Homeschool section, which I keep in our school area.
My other four areas now each have their own file drawer. I also have a standing file on top of the file drawers for quick storage. That way, I can file something at a later time and I don’t have papers all over my house.
Okay, that might not be totally true. But at least I don’t have my five fat files papers all over my house.
This idea really excites me for several reasons. Mainly, it gives a sense of purpose to my reading. It also organizes all those articles I want to save because I know I’ll use it someday. It makes me more selective in my reading, too, I am not reading for the sake of reading.
My five areas were carefully selected to reflect my priorities in life. I laughed when I finally settled on them, because at a glance, those five areas are, well…me. And that’s probably what your list should make you feel like, too.
You should enjoy your five areas, and be excited to learn more. If you can’t come up with five, just start with one or two and see where God takes you.
I would be very interested to hear if anyone else is using this idea, or thinking of starting. Let me know what your five areas are in the comment section and we can inspire each other!
nancy says
Angela – I have so enjoyed reading and thinking about the letters you have written.
They are very inspiring. They make me give thought.
I will think about the 5 files.
I usually read to entertain my brain and take me away from reality.
It will be a new year.
I will try your method.
Thank you for including me in your adventure.
I am very proud of you and your family.
Give the girls and Eric a hug from me.
Auntie Nancy
Christine says
I really like this idea. It will be something I truly think about doing this year. My five files would be:
Family
Christian Growth (what I can do and learn to be a better mom, wife and christian)
Photography
Sewing
Teaching
annkroeker says
Great post! I love the detail you have included to inspire others to try focusing on their areas.
Appreciate your comment at my post on the same topic!
CD Cartel says
Great! I have been looking for info like this , thanks for posting.
Katie says
I am almost done with this book, and I’m working on choosing my 5. At last check, I seemed to be sure about 4 and circling the fifth. My first three are, in no particular order, homemaking (cleaning, organization, cooking, making special occasions special, making our house a home…you get the idea), parenting (especially the spiritual development of my children), and being a wife (nurturing our marriage, building up my husband). My fourth is stewardship, with special interest in feeding the hungry. My fifth seems to fall under the category of self control (anger, health, choosing joy). It feels in the right direction but not quite there yet. I’m still praying about it and focusing on the four I know.
I used to feel overwhelmed and stressed about studying the Word because there’s so much to learn. Hearing someone say I should focus on becoming an “expert” in a few areas has set me free and really spurred my studying. I believe I’m getting A Mother After God’s Own Heart next.
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angelamills says
That’s awesome! Have you read Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Curriculum picks? It is a curriculum review book, but there’s a great section on different learning styles and approaches that really made me a better teacher for the girls. From there, I investigated the approaches that appealed more to me. You’ve probably read it, I think it was the first homeschool book I bought!
angelamills says
Thanks! You are always so encouraging of everything I do 🙂
I know what you mean about reading, sometimes I crave a novel the way I would crave chocolate! So I read one, preferrably in the tub!
Let me know how it goes, I’m excited!
Bill Krafft says
I like this idea. Recenty I have become focused on apologetics, leadership and personal growth. I hadn’t thought about classifying my books and studies like this, but I am seeing possibilities to allow me to subdivide these areas to best serve the pupose that God has given me.
Thanks for the awesome idea.