BOOKS

Friday, December 30, 2005

In many ways I am a lot like Ralphie the young star of The Christmas Story, which is on television every year during the Christmas season. Ralphie wants a Red Ryder B.B. gun more than anything in the world. However, when he finally gets to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him his heart’s desire, he is so excited and confused he blurts out that he wants a football. Every year members of my family ask me what I want Santa to bring me for Christmas. Every year books are on the list but beyond that---I don’t have a clue. Again, this year I asked for six books. I got six books. Oh, I got other things too, but the books were my favorite things. I have already read one, girl meets God by Lauren Winner, and have started, Christ, Baptism And The Lord’s Supper by Leonard J Vander Zee.

Lauren Winner, like me, loves books. On one occasion she was having a meal with her pastor when he encouraged her to give up something for Lent. He wanted her to give to God something that really mattered, something she really loved. She thought about it and decided on food. She thought this would be a great sacrifice because she can’t do without food. He said, “I would like you to give up reading for Lent. I think books would be a gift you could give Christ that would be really meaningful.” Then he asked her, “What do you do on, say, a Thursday evening once you have eaten dinner, rinsed your dishes, and quit working for the night?”

“I read”

“What about the occasional Thursday night on which you do not read?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” she says. “Usually, I read.”

Then he says it again: “I’d like you to give up reading for Lent.”

“You know,” she says to her pastor, “reading really is my fallback activity. If I have time on my hands, nothing to do, what I do is read.”

“No, no,” he says. “Reading is my fallback activity. Reading is your life.”

That got me to thinking. Maybe reading is my life. When I retired my son and I carried away fifteen boxes of books that I needed to turn over to others. (Get rid of) We then hauled several loads of books home in the back of his pickup. One wall in our family room is solid books. In my home office I have built shelves in the closet and it is full of books. In the office itself I have four book cases full. In addition there are books laying around all over the house. I confess I love books. But I do more than just have strong feelings about books---I read them!

READ! MAYBE YOU’LL LEARN SOMETHING!