Cultivating a Reading Life

I remember that brown paper bag. My uncle Frank, an avid reader himself, understood my nine-year-old affection for books. And that large brown paper bag held an assortment of paperback books he had gathered for me from a library sale.

I don’t remember most of the books stowed in that brown paper bag, but I do remember a paperback book with a sunny yellow border. The prairie scene illustrated on the cover drew me in: a blue frontier sky, a serious-looking man with a beard, a little girl clutching a small bouquet of wildflowers, a woman with upswept hair and a soft smile, a log cabin in the background. Mildly obsessed with anything I deemed “old-fashioned”, my interest was instantly piqued.

Some books are so familiar. Reading them is like being home again.
Jo March [ Little Women movie, 1994 ]

Books are an invitation

The memory of that yellow-bordered book always comes to mind when I ponder my deep love for books. Already a confirmed bookworm at nine years old, I had been read to from a young age and then gone on to read stacks of books on my own. Illustrations and phrases from childhood favorites like The World of Richard Scarry, Love You Forever, and Who Put the Pepper in the Pot? are forever etched into my memory.

But then there is the foray into reading on one’s own, specifically what we call “chapter books”. At that point I knew firsthand the delight of a new book in hand, wondering what awaited me in its pages. I understood the sheer pleasure of being utterly swept into a good story.

I mention this specific memory because it is the first recollection I have of reading a chapter book, though I’d read many by that time. It is the first time I remember holding a book in my hands and wondering what was inside, relishing the invitation of a good book. I think I understood then that a book is an invitation into someone else’s journey –– and that within those pages, I could learn and grow, too.

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll.
How frugal is the chariot
That bears the human soul.
Emily Dickinson

God gave us words

When we consider that God chose to reveal Himself through the book of Books, the Bible, it’s not surprising that books hold the power to shape our minds and hearts. We encounter His words of truth as we read the Bible. Whether written or spoken, God gave us the gift of words to communicate. (I realize that we can also listen to the Bible in audio format, but even that is being read by someone else.)

If we lose the gift of reading in this generation, we will lose the ability to reason, to understand God’s greatness, to think well, to have convictions. We must keep literacy up! It is one of the most important works of our lives. If children do not learn to love to read, they will not become readers of the Bible –– the best words. They will love reading if you read out loud to them and cherish them and celebrate great stories together with them in peace and joy.
Sally Clarkson [ Mom Hearts Moments devotional, September 23rd reading ]

Books speak to us

Is there an area in which you desire to grow or need encouragement and inspiration? There’s a book for that. When we take the time to read, we glean from the work and wisdom of others. I’m so thankful that I can pick up a book and…

• be exhorted by Sally Clarkson in my role as a mother
• visit the charming town of Mitford and its endearing residents in Jan Karon’s Mitford series
• “sit down to coffee” with Barbara Rainey and have my questions on marriage answered by a godly, learned, older woman
• expand my knowledge as a doula through the pages of The Birth Partner
• have my faith bolstered as Elisabeth Elliot candidly recounts stories of God’s faithfulness in her missionary life
• be inspired in Little Women by the daily lives of four sisters and their loving, wise Marmee in Civil War-era New England
• learn how to sew a linen apron or make lavender chamomile bath salts in Lisa Bass’s book of simple, natural DIY projects

You get the idea. Books give us access to the voices of truth and wisdom of people we may never meet in person. We have the opportunity to meet them and their words on the pages of their books.

A woman who reads is a rebel, defying the pace of the instant at which the modern world gallops from dawn till dusk. Her mind is her own, formed not by a scroll down the social-media feed or the frantic scurry of too much to do but by her daily decision to walk in company with the wise, those authors who help her to step back, to listen, to pray, and to ponder.
Sarah Clarkson [Book Girl]

Reading quiets our minds

When we pause long enough to sit down with an actual book in hand, these moments have the ability to quiet our screen-frenzied minds. As I sit down to read a book, even for fifteen minutes, I am choosing to read those words by that author. I am usually fairly refreshed or encouraged or informed by this bookish reprieve.

However, I am rarely refreshed by the overwhelming, out-of-context barrage of information snatched in fifteen minutes of reading Facebook posts and comments. While a social media post can be well-written and life-giving, carefully choose the words you allow to fill your heart and mind.

I have many friends who excel at using these outlets to inspire hope and truth. I also aim to use my social media accounts to encourage and uplift others. But I encourage you to set distraction aside as you put your phone down and pick up an actual book. Your book can’t buzz, beep, or ding at you (thank goodness).

We need to have our attention restored, that holy capacity to be fully present to the moment in which we find ourselves. We need to be summoned back from the tasks we have yet to do, the endless scroll of the online world, the frantic pace that nips at our heels like a pesky dog. We need to be halted in our frenzied steps and called back to this moment in its possibility, to this day in its shifting seasonal beauty, to this person, irreplaceably precious. The written word, the greats works of literature and essay––if we will only engage them for a few moments––have the power to arrest us in this way, to demand our attention, to set us back down in the present with a quieter mind and more attentive eyes.
Sarah Clarkson [Book Girl]

Read good books

As we read, it’s vital that we run our books through the filter of what God says is good and beautiful. Around the same time I read Love Comes Softly, I also read quite a few books from The Babysitters Club series. Yikes! There is a vast difference between the simple, faith-building lives of the Davis family and the fluff and folly of secular middle-school girls.

The point here? Read good things. Not what the Goodreads app deems worth your time, but what God says is worth your time and energy. I think we will all navigate this a bit differently, but here are two portions of Scripture that help me in my reading choices:

… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellent, if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Philippians 4:8 [emphasis added]

Is it lovely?
Is it pure?
Does it inspire Christ-like behavior and thoughts?
Is it honorable?

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffer; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2

In partaking of a certain book and its ideas, am I “heeding the counsel of the wicked”?
Am I “standing in the way of sinners” –– reading a book that presents sin as right or good?
Am I “sitting in the seat of a scoffer” as I enjoy a book that makes light of God’s Word?

I hope this post encouraged you to pause in the busyness of life and sit down with a good book, even if for a few moments. Or maybe you’re well-established in the reading life, strategically carving out time to read. Either way, tell me, what is one book you want to read this year? I’d love to hear!

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