When I was a little kid, I enjoyed reading. Things such as the Tom Swift series and some of the Sherlock Holmes stuff. I really loved reading and when I was in fourth grade, I was reading many grades ahead of where I was in school. In fact, I couldn’t get enough of books.
Then, when I was in high school, something happened. I kind of stopped reading anything that wasn’t necessary for my classwork. I guess that I started to look at reading as a waste of time when I could be doing more contemporary things. I know that sounds crazy, but that is the truth. Reading seemed like something of an escape and not within the realm of the things that were necessary to be successful in the “real world.” That means that I missed reading many of the classics and to this day I am a little embarrassed at some of the great books that I have never read.
That trend continued throughout my college days and it is no surprise that English grammar was never one of my top scoring areas during testing. In fact, I know more about the grammar of the Greek language than I do about English. I did have to read numerous books, including the 66 books of the Bible, when I was in seminary but I still never took the time to read for pleasure or to further educate myself during my years in the corporate world.
Oddly, many people have asked me to write a book or two but I have not yet had the urge to do that. I did successfully write three dissertations for various educational degrees that were at least 50,000 words each but they were more academic in nature and I don’t think that I would want to do the research necessary to write any sort of scholarly work. Of course, I have written more than 1350 posts for this blog as well!
Don’t get me wrong – I have thought about it – and every so often I give some serious consideration to the idea of authoring a book but I am still in the process of getting comfortable with the idea. I guess that this topic has become more front and center for me because our daughter, Kristin, has written a children’s book and it is scheduled to be released in about a month. In fact, it’s a book that she wrote many years ago and just last year, she dusted it off, made some changes to the format and the content, and then found a publisher!
Her second and third children’s books are in the works as well, so it is clear that Kristin is “off and running” on her journey to becoming a published author. And then, I found out that my cousin has decided to write a book and he has encouraged me to do the same thing. I feel the pressure mounting…
Since I have been working in the corporate world less this year, especially since my knee injury, I do have more free time on my hands and I am looking for something to keep my mind more active. I had a checkup at the doctor last week and when I asked her for ideas, she suggested that I should take up reading as a way to keep up my mental acuity and comprehension. Who would have thought? So all the indicators seem to be pointing to the fact that reading helps keep our minds sharp and I do have a weakness for reading presidential biographies.
Since our Bible study started several weeks ago, I have had to up my study time and I am reading more articles on the subject matter that I am teaching. But aside from that, I have read two books this week and I have to admit that it akin to rekindling a relationship with an old friend. I don’t even feel guilty about reading during “working hours” as the time has come in my life that I have earned some relaxation time when I am not consulting in the corporate world.
All this goes to show that perhaps I am on the verge of re-discovering a passion that I had as a little kid – and something that can keep my mind sharp and focused at the same time. As I mentioned earlier, I have read the Bible multiple times but there is always more to learn about Jesus. There is no question that the best way to enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus is to learn more about Him and writers have been documenting His miracles and the devotional aspects of living with Christ for many years.
In fact, the apostle John lets us know that the stories about Jesus and His life are too numerous to ever be documented. He tells us, in John 21:25, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
My encouragement this evening is that Jesus loves it when we invest time and energy studying Him and the lessons that He is trying to teach us. My prayer is that each of us will continue to be life long learners and whether it is the study of Scripture or other books that help us to be better people, we will devote ourselves to improving our minds and our hearts in the name of Jesus. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…