Why Do I Write So Tiny?

Why Do I Write So Tiny? October 3, 2015

Recently, someone saw my writing and exclaimed, “Wow, that is such tiny writing? Why do you do that?” Once in while, someone says that to me. I haven’t always had an answer for them. I answered this person by saying, “I guess I try to conserve on paper.” Actually, that’s not the right answer.

Then, does it signify some psychological deficiency in me? Such as, am I too stingy? I don’t think so. I’m a decent tipper. I give to the Lord’s work. But I probably have been a bit stingy when I was about financially broke. Or am I too small in my thinking. Like, I can’t see the forest for the trees? Some psychologist might have a heyday with me on this one.

Or is there some physical reason? Such as, do I bend over too much and hold my head too close to the paper as I write because I can’t see well? No, I go to my optometrist every year to get my eyes checked and to get the right perscription for my contact lenses and glasses.

Actually, my not having the right answer for that person must be due to old timer’s disease–failing memory. Today, I remembered what causes me to right so tiny. I was writing in my Bible and then remembered that that is why I sometimes write so small. I don’t always write small, but sometimes I do.

So, I sometimes write so small because I have spent a lifetime of writing a lot in my Bible, both in its margins and between the lines. When pro golfer Dave Ragan first became a Christian on the PGA Tour and saw my Bible with all my notes in it he exclaimed, “You write in the HOLY Bible?” as if that is a sacrilegious thing to do.

Have you ever tried to write between the lines in your Bible? It’s pretty hard to do and still make your writing legible. That’s why I have two pens at all times sitting beside my computer on my desk. I have a regular pen sitting on the right side of my computer and a very fine-point pen sitting on the left side of my computer. That fine-point pen is for writing in my Bible.

I’ve been writing very tiny in my Bible since I became an adult. I have used many different translations of the Bible. But I have always had one main Bible that I take with me to church or Bible class or wherever. In the past fifty years, I have used one main Egnlish Bible for about a decade. Thus, in the past fifty years I have had five main English Bible versions. And it is those Bibles that I have written most of my Bible notes in. I wore out all of those Bibles. They are in this chronological order: Old Scofield Study Bible in KJV during the 1960s, New Scofield Study Bible in KJV during the 1970s, Ryrie Study Bible in the NASB in the 1980s, NIV in the 1990s, and NRSV ever since. So, my present NRSV is really looking sorry since it is so worn out from nearly 15 years of use. I got it sort of refurbished three years, but that didn’t help much. Years ago I had one of those fancy lose-leaf Bibles I used for a while, but it was too big to lug around.

I should get used to reading scripture on my Apple iPhone 6. Can you make notes in those things? I’m an electronically dumb guy with a smart phone. My six grandkids run circles around me with cell phones. I’ve got an Apple store only three miles from my house. But if I need to know something about my Apple phone, I just ask them. I expect there are a lot of us physically mature humans who have to ask the young folk about such things. But can they write tiny? I’ll tee it up with anybody for that game. Lets get it on!


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