What Should Zoe Do in the Morning?

Hey friends,

Zoe continues to develop and improve, and your feedback has been extremely helpful in shaping that.

Over this last week, my focus has been on getting the morning experience right. That is kind of the core foundation of interacting with Zoe as a tool.

And the question is pretty simple: how can Zoe help someone engage with God and Scripture in the morning?

One Possible Morning

For example, Zoe can prepare a full written devotional-style note for you. It can take into account whatever book of the Bible or topic you want to study, give you some helpful surrounding context or insight, ask a few reflection questions, and connect it to your actual life.

That is already pretty cool, to be honest.

The danger with that approach, and this is something I want to be careful about, is that it could train people to rely on Zoe to suggest what a passage might mean, or what God might be saying to them.

Is that a problem?

It depends. If Zoe becomes a substitute for someone's own ongoing conversation with God, then yes, I think we have a problem.

But also, people already bring a lot of voices into the way they read Scripture and discern what God may be saying: TV, social media, sermons, podcasts, random blog posts, group chats, you name it.

So is getting Zoe's take, one that is grounded in Scripture, historical Christian orthodoxy, and serious sources, automatically worse than those other voices?

I do not think the answer is obvious.

The Other Option

The other option is to have Zoe lead someone through an interaction with Scripture without offering as much of its own take.

In that version, Zoe invites you to read a passage, then asks you to name what stood out. From there, Zoe can prompt you to discern: "What do you think God is drawing your attention to here, and how might that be tested or lived today?"

Once you describe it, Zoe can help you remember and live it out, including follow-up nudges later in the day if that would actually help.

It is more like the classic SOAP style of Bible study: Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. My guess is that more seasoned Christians may prefer this style, because Scripture leads and Zoe mostly helps you respond.

I can see the need for both. I can also see the tradeoffs in both.

I would love to get your take.

What kind of morning experience would you prefer Zoe to walk you through?

What would be helpful? What would not?

Let me know. Your opinion matters here.

Toward Him daily,

Tony

P.S. Feel free to reach out directly: tony@zoe.live.