Books

Those of you who know me know that I love to read. I can get lost in a book quicker than you can say "Jack Spratt could eat no fat." It is an escape for me sometimes, but also, I am just fascinated with the development of the characters in a story. I like reading all kinds of material, from fiction such mysteries, to historical narratives, to books which challenge faith and conventional thinking. I usually have more than one book going at a time. I have them stacked beside the bed on a cedar chest which belonged to my mother. My favorite time of my day is when I get to crawl in bed at night, turn down the thermostat and turn on the electric blanket, reach for the old "bedlight" which hung on the headboards of numerous kids' beds in the home we grew up in, and get my book out.

Today I went through the books which had accumulated on the cedar chest. I found several I finished this year and didn't get put away, two books I'm in the process of reading, and, I made space for some newly purchased books I've gotten recently. You may ask, why do you buy them rather than get them from the library? One reason is because it takes me awhile to finish a book when I read it at night. I've got about 20-30 minutes before I get sleepy (under that electric blanket) and that's all I get done. I don't like having the pressure of trying to finish it before it's due back. I frequent used book stores-in fact, there's one right down the street from me called "Al's Old Books". Another favorite place I'd go frequently before it closed was the Delano Book Room. If you go on further east on Douglas, you will come across "Eighth Day Books", a delightful place to spend time in.

I struggle with a couple of things in this reading hobby I've got. First, I realize that whatever I read goes into the brain and the thought processes. You know the old saying, "Garbage In, Garbage Out". For awhile, I was attending a neighborhood book club, however, some of their monthly selections were not of my taste. I try to be careful about what I do pick up to read-I don't do "terrifying horror", ghosts and vampires, blood, slasher, X-rated romance, and I don't like to read language I consider offensive. The second thing I struggle with is prioritizing. I need to feed my soul. If I have 20 minutes to read before going to sleep, then what should I be doing? To that end, for the last several years, I have put down my current reading interest before the "sandman" comes, and picked up my little Oswald Chambers classic devotional book, "My Utmost for His Highest".

I may be behind some of you in my internet discoveries, but today I found this devotional classic online. Check out:

http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/03/devotion.aspx?year=2009

How wonderful! I would be able to access this site from work, say during a break in my day, and take a moment to just be still and think about what God might be saying to me. I hope you find this site helpful. There's also, at the bottom of the page, a schedule for you if you are reading the Bible through in a year. That's also a task I struggle with. Is there time in the day for everything? Depends on what your priorities are. Take a hard look at how you spend you time, and there'll be room if you make it so.