Thinking about that makes me laugh now. I still read the Bible before I go to bed, and I probably read the Psalms more than any other book. There is so much to them! The imagery is amazing, and I love how the writers reflect all of the emotions they are feeling: giving thanks, praising God, feeling abandoned, alone, or in despair―sometimes all in the same Psalm!
I also love how familiar the Psalms are, not just because I read them so often, but because I learned so many of them set to music in my childhood. I will be reading along, then come to a phrase or even a whole chapter that brings back a melody and a time and place I had forgotten.
I memorized a lot of Bible verses as a child, but the first entire chapter I learned by heart was Psalm 100. My travel Bible says that it is a psalm for giving thanks, which seems like a good place to start. [Note: I generally try to use nongendered language for God, but because I learned this Psalm with male pronouns, I am leaving it that way here.]
Psalm 100
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful song.
Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
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