Words On A Page

   I like to read. My kids know this, and many times over the years, I have gotten books as presents. They are always appreciated, and I read them in the knowledge that someone thought I would enjoy them and picked them out for that reason.

   Other people mention books that they have read, and they think that I would like them too.

   Books are more that just "words on a page", they can be windows into the soul, of the writer and of the reader.

   I like books that are personal in nature; ones that show the hearts of the characters portrayed, be they fictional or real. Ones that ask the question, "is that me?" or "how would I fit in here?"

   Here is what I have read thus far in the new year:

   Visions and Voices, a pictorial look into the one-room schoolhouses in Montana, with photographs and testimonies of the ones who taught there and those that were taught.

   In the Kingdom of Ice, a book about Arctic exploration in the late 1800s, the struggles to reach the North Pole by boat.

   AWOL on the A.T., a man's personal story of hiking the 2,172 mile Appalachain Trail.

   All of the above engage me on a personal level, asking me those questions about my life, what I might do in those situations, how I might respond to those environments. They are more than just "words on a page".

   I read other things also. There is a blog by a girl that I once taught in school for a few months. She has a way with words that I like, as she writes of her personal experiences in a big city up north. Even though she lives a couple of generations below me on the age spectrum, her honest thoughts and struggles speak to me., and I try to see myself and ask, "what would I do?"

   God's Story, as recorded in the Book of Matthew, has been my reading in the mornings over this last month, as I ask the question "what would Jesus have me do in my life right now?" and "where do I fit in Life's story?".

   Readings for pleasure? Sure

   Readings for instruction? Of course

   Readings of Inspiration? Naturally

   Words on a Page? More than that,

             Glimpses into my own life and soul.

   And I am grateful to those who can write well, and to God, who can put me in His everlasting Story, and help me to see it.

   Psalm 31:15, a Psalm of David

   "My times are in Your hand;"

   And I'm glad