I am a little like a hobbit. Well, let’s be honest.. more than a little. I love to read, stay at home in my cozy chair and putter about by myself. But the way in which I am most like JRR Tolkien’s imaginary people group is that I LOVE second breakfast.
All through college I made sure I had time to dash into the dining commons between my 8am classes and the 10am ones because I knew I just couldn’t make it through the morning without second breakfast. It usually consists entirely of carbs: toast, banana bread, english muffins. I have carried on the tradition with my children. We all wake up early so by 9 or 10 am it’s that time...time for second breakfast.
Now, some of the best parenting advice I got was as a teacher at parent-teacher conference. The father of a very bright young girl told me that the secret was to give their brains and souls food whenever you give their stomachs food. That passing remark has changed my life.
So, at second breakfast we eat muffins or whatever baked goods we have on hand and we also read stories. We read the stories they send home from Sunday school. You may know them, some are quite famous, Noah and the Flood, David and Goliath, Adam and Eve. Surprisingly enough, even with the toddler group my church does memory verses. More surprising still is my son’s aptitude for rote memorization. I’ll never forget the day we were enjoying our Pillsbury “home-made” cinnamon buns and I asked him about his verse. He sat up and recited, “En my beginning God cweated da heavens and da earf.” Genesis 1:1 I was dumbstruck.
All this to say, with great circumlocution (as always) that I am not making a 5 point checklist this year with 10 subheadings under each main heading. I am trying to keep my resolutions simple. I plan to write...a lot...and I am going to read the Bible. I started tonight with Genesis 1:1. My husband bought me the One Year Chronological Bible and I plan to read it. Even as a religious studies major I don’t pretend that this will be easy. It will not. There will be set backs and discouragement and long long genealogies but I am still resolving to do it because in the end, “The Word of God is living and active sharper than any two edged sword piercing to the division of soul and spirit, bones and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
How encouraging! It can be tempting to think that we will start things when our kids are "older", but they absorb everything even if they can't quite articulate it. I'll be cheering you on in your journey to reading through the Bible, and hope to finish making it through the rest of mine this year!
ReplyDelete