J'Adore... Books

I was a product of the children who were forced fed reading in school.  I read what I was told to read and thus “pleasure reading” was a foreign term to me.

My mother, she limited her reading to the Bible and devotions.  If the church was giving away a free devotional, mother had it on her nightstand.  My dad is now a voracious reader.  I can only assume the pressures of a demanding job squelched that hunger in his younger days.

My children on the other hand, are crazy, wonderful, readers of all things fiction.  It is extraordinary to see.  In every single bedroom, the shelves burst with literary treasures.   My kindergartner is convinced school will end when she masters reading as she has voiced, “what else is there?”   Their daddy is 100% responsible for this.  He was a passionate reader from a young age and fostered it in our people.  I am so grateful.

Reading is a gift.  It is an escape and it is an eloquent tutorial to understanding people.

There is not one person in the hundreds I have met that could be perfectly judged by their cover.  There is not one person that is formed solely by their first years.  There is not a soul on this earth that is not hungry and looking for fulfillment.  Whether a person lives in want or wealth, they need to be loved and needed.

So why then do we size up people by a glance or a color, or a creed or a single sentence?

We are here to love.  That begins with an investment of time, of quiet, of reflection, of patience and giving every inch of forbearance before judgment or criticism.

We too have a story; we want to be understood with respect and dignity, read between the lines for what we want to say and what we cannot articulate.  We owe that to those around us, it is the deepest and most profound statement of love.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, 

bearing with one another in love. 

Ephesians 4:2