I Never Liked Reading Until I Fell in Love with Content

Daily writing promptDo you remember your favorite book from childhood?View all responses

As a child I found reading books to be a laborious and difficult process. I tried to avoid it as much as possible. Throughout my school years, I especially tried to dodge my homework reading assignments. In college I majored in English literature but instead of reading the assigned books, I would read Cliff Notes (pamphlets that presented a brief synapses of a literary work).

Then something happened to me that turned me into a voracious reader and life-long learner. I suddenly discovered content that I loved — subject matter that I couldn’t get enough of. A few times as a child I had tried to read a famous book, but it was always boring and difficult to me. However, one night, after I had had a strange, mystical experience, I picked that book up and I couldn’t put it down. I fell in love with its content and its words burned in my heart. I would read it for hours at a time.

Fifty-five years later, I’m still reading that book every day, and it continues to fill me with hope, encouragement, strength, insight, joy, and inspiration. I discovered that throughout history millions of people have been changed, set free, and healed by reading that book. Many of those people have written books sharing the wisdom, inspiration, and life-transforming experiences that they have received from reading that famous book. I began to search for, find, and devour hundreds of those books. (Most of them were written before I was born). That’s how I was changed from running away from reading books to running after and devouring books.

After all this time, I still love the content of that famous book. The content is a person. His name is Jesus Christ. Reading the Bible with an open hungry heart connects me directly to His presence. Reading books about how other people throughout history have personally experienced Jesus also helps train me to know, follow, and obey Him.

Try this. Turn down the volume on your analytical mind. Then pick up a Bible and begin to read the book of John with an open, hungry, and humble heart. Read it like a love letter and let it penetrate beyond your brain. Soon its words will begin to burn within you.

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