Read A Good Book.....Lately?

This morning as I was lying in bed talking to the Holy Spirit about what this blog should be about, I started thinking about reading. Why? I don’t know, but it was the only topic that seemed to come to mind. Okay, so now I’m at the computer and here we go. LOL!!

Saturday will be our first virtual book club call, and I’m very excited. I’m one who loves book clubs. I have been a member of a book club, and have also run them for neighborhood women. I think women join book clubs for different reasons. Yes, the most obvious is that you like to read, but I think the fellowship with other women is also a big draw. So it is safe to say that book clubs offer a time of fellowship and they inspire people to read. But there is something else I’ve noticed, and that is there are always the ones who never finish reading the book. The reasons why they didn’t finish are endless, life unscripted (any and everything happens), spirit of procrastination, the book is boring, had company, my period was on, my kids were acting out, my husband was getting on my nerves, I had so many commitments at church, I am tired, I don’t know why I joined, I really don’t like to read, I just couldn’t find the time…..

…..Hum, are these some of the same reasons we don’t read our Bible (The Good Book) on a consistent bases? I’m going to step out on a limb here and say, “Yes!”

I love to read, but then again most writers are readers. We are inspired by words. My love for books started with my first library card and first library book, “Curious George”. In fact I have it sitting in my bookcase and just renewed it online yesterday. My 5 year old granddaughter is in love with Curious George and the library, (chip off the old block). I grew up in a time when there was only one TV in the house (if that), it was never on 24/7 and you had to use your imagination every day of your life. When I came in from school you didn’t plop down in front of the TV (there were no computers), you did your homework, chores, maybe a little time outside to play, set the table, ate dinner, washed the dinner dishes, took your bath and then you got to watch a little TV before…off to bed. That was a perfect school evening, but if I was on punishment (which seemed like most of the time) there was no TV and I either went to bed early or stayed in my room and read. The summertime was also a time of much reading. During the heat of the day (again because the TV was not on all day), you played board games, jacks, had fun with your dolls and read books. Too this day, whenever it’s a rainy dreary day, I have to fight the urge to lie in bed and read all day. Those are some of my fondest memories as a child. But even as much as I love to read, it has become a struggle some days. And I don’t seem to be alone in this predicament either.

My mail carrier I’m sure some days is tired of delivering so many magazines to my house. Somehow I got hooked into a system where I get magazines subscriptions for next to nothing. And sisters, the lust of my eye has caused me a problem. Let’s see, I get Food & Wine, Prevention, Ladies Home Journal, Good House Keeping, Philadelphia Magazine, Bazaar, Glamour, and O magazine. And not to long ago I got rid of Martha Stewart, and Food Magazine. Would you believe that I got a 1 year subscription for O magazine for $5.00? That’s the problem; they were all so inexpensive that I just couldn’t say, “No.” Do I read all of them? “NO!” and that is the real problem. So, now as the subscriptions are running out, I’m going to cut it down to 3 magazines a month, or maybe even 2…LOL!! Because the truth is, if it only cost $1, but I don’t read them, then it is a waste of money. I do read my “Believers Voice of Victory” Christian magazine, and it is free. Now what does that tell you? LOL!!

Okay, let’s get back to the book club….Cheryl is the host for this month and if you joined for June, then you are part of a yahoo group and we are talking about the book a little bit before our call on Saturday. We have some who have finished, and others barely getting started, but that is how book clubs go. And that’s okay; because it is an extra curricular activity, but what I’ve noticed is that we can also get into a slump where we treat reading our Bibles as an extra curricular activity. And that’s not okay.

All the reasons we use to not finish a book for a book club are the same excuses we use to not read our Bibles on a consistent bases. But there is one big difference! A book club is for fun and enjoyment. Bible reading not only changes your life, but it can also save it too! It is not prudent to treat our Bibles like a pile of unread magazines that we hope to read one day. It shouldn’t be something we dust off once a week to lug to church. It should be something we make time for every day. And we should be so excited about what we read that we want to share it with someone else and through our excitement encourage them to read it too. We should start book clubs just about the Bible. Think about it, you meet on the phone once a week with a friend or two to discuss how you were inspired the past week through the Word of God. Wow!! How awesome is that?! It doesn’t have to be anything deep, just a conversation about what you’ve been reading. I have a dear friend and we talk about God’s Word, every week. She is a teacher of the Word so she studies it a lot, and talking to her often inspires me to go look up stuff and meditate on it. She provokes me unto good works!!! Sisters, we need to start provoking one another to read the Word of God consistently.

If you are guilty of not spending time with the Holy Spirit and your Bible, then it is time to put away the excuses, the spirit of procrastination and make time. None of our good works supersede us spending time in the Word. And I say that because we have a tendency to lead very busy lives, but it is still not a reason for us to forgo our time with the Lord. The Bible is our spiritual food. How many days are you willing to go without eating natural food? How long can you last without food, before we become weak or ill and our bodies go into starvation mode? Would starving to death be on your “Top 10” list of things to do? No! Yet, how many days does it take to become weak spiritually? How many days does it take to go into a spiritual starvation mode? Where we don’t make the choice to starve ourselves naturally, every day that we don’t read our Bibles, we make the choice to starve our spirit.

If you are one who thinks the Bible is boring, change your translation. If you are a person who really is not a reader, then ask someone to agree with you in prayer for that to change. Please sisters know that the King James Version is not the only translation to read, and if someone has told you that, they are mistaken. Jesus did not speak “King James Old English” the Torah and original epistles of the Bible were not written in King James Old English. If you have difficulty reading, you can follow alone on Biblegateway.com audio as you read the New International translation. No more excuses!! If you need to be held accountable, then get an accountability partner. And one last word of caution, please don’t take on reading the Bible in one year or putting unrealistic expectations on yourself. Start out with 15 minutes a day, and learn to be faithful and consistent in that. As your desire to read the Bible increases so will the amount of time you spend reading. Take one day at a time!

Sisters….I pray that you have been encouraged to pick up the best book ever written and put away all excuses. A love affair with God is better than anything this world has to offer. How can you have that? By spending time with Him through His Word!



Blessings and Love
Ponnie


Wednesday’s Blog: Jennifer has something very special for the “Working Single Moms” and you don’t want to miss it.