I went to a bookstore today.
This means I went right near heaven.
Few things make me feel inspired, and connected, and known, and enthused like pages in binding.
Passing all those classics I haven't read yet - I feel giddy and guilty all at the same time. It makes me want to scoop them all up for purchase and digestion.
A great mentor of ours once told us that we should seek out the books
of old - not just the books of the hour. He told us that we should try to take
in the writings that have stood the test of time...a bit more than we take
in the ones that have only been spouted off recently.
He
was quick to say that our more modern pieces certainly have the
potential to speak and guide and minister - but that we should be very
careful in our pursuing of them.
Our wise mentor isn't the only guy who has suggested this.
The following is from Alister McGrath's book entitled C.S. Lewis - A Life:
Lewis
argues that a familiarity with the literature of the past provides
readers with a standpoint which gives them critical distance from their
own era. This allows them to see "the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective." The reading of old books enables us to avoid becoming passive captives of the Spirit of the Age by keeping "the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds."
Interesting.
Don't
get us all wrong here, please. There are some very sound words floating
around these days, that come from people of our own generation. I'm
shaken awake by many of them.
We just need to be careful. And prayerful. And picky.
Especially when it comes to the writings we expose our children to.
Gladys Hunt in her book entitled Honey for a Child's Heart (Fourth Edition) wrote this:
"Good books provide for the kind of character we hope to see developed in our children."
Yes.
Teaching
my own kids - has awakened me to the fact that children are very
heavily influenced, and spoken to, and captivated by....
books that teach them things in story form, rather than text book form.
Children
are experts at pulling out moral nuggets and keen facts from simply
listening to or reading good literature. It doesn't have to be dumbed
down and spoon fed to them by way of a dry text.
And you, as the parent, will gain much from sitting in the pages with them.
I've grown, and been fed, and been whisked away by many of the readings I've done with my lassies.
I could go on and on, really.
But alas - it's only half an hour until tomorrow.
And Mama here is tired and the pillow is calling.
It's been a pleasure sitting here with you over the last 7 days, friends. We should do this more often :)
Blessings and good books to you all.
