I'm A Book Addict

I have a confession to make. I am a book addict. My mother loved to read; I love to read; our daughters loved to read. I remember when Daughter # 2 was in junior high, she would walk through the house with a book in front of her face, not watching where she was going and oblivious about what was going on around her.

I began to love reading when I started school. Oh, I loved books before that time but it was because I loved for my mother to read them to me. We spent a lot of summer afternoons lying on a quilt out under a shade tree in my back yard; me looking at picture books and my mother reading books to me. I can remember us walking to town and up the two flights of stairs in the courthouse and into the library. I can still see those books on the shelves and even remember how they smelled. Mother would let me check out three books a week and I would have them almost memorized before it was time to return them. When I reached high school, I loved just hanging out in the library and eventually joined the library club and worked in the library during my free period.

After not finding the time to read as much as I would like because of a career, when I retired about eight years ago I couldn’t wait to begin reading again. I am so thankful for a wonderful church library and a very good friend, Becky Floyd, for keeping me in wonderful reading materials. I love anything by Lewis, Brunstetter, Peterson, Rivers, Snelling, Oke, and Kingsbury. They are favorite fiction authors. But, Max Lucado is my very favorite inspirational author.

I have a cousin and a grandson-in-law who are published authors. I'd love to be able to write well enough to be published. But, unlike Grandma Moses, I think I'm too old to begin such endeavors.

Learning new things is a big part of reading but I also love to read for relaxation. I love Kindle books but there is nothing like the feel of a book in my hands. A book is a companion. Being an only child, there were a lot of times I was lonely and a book filled that loneliness. When I was in school, it was good that I enjoyed reading because book reports seemed to come quite often in English class. To be able to see and almost live the characters in a book; see in your mind’s eye their surroundings; hear their accent as they speak, in my mind, makes a good read.

When I see some of the mindless programs on television, I wonder why people spend time watching it when they could get lost in a good book. I wonder why reading is not more of a part of a school’s curriculum. Unless a child is taught to read, they cannot be very successful in the real world.
How many of us who love to read spend time reading God's word. Our lives will be enriched and blessed when we fill our minds reading our bibles.

"But this is the new agreement I will make with the people of Israel, says the Lord: I will write my laws in their minds so that they will know what I want them to do without my even telling them, and these laws will be in their hearts so that they will want to obey them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. " Hebrews 8:10 (TLB)