Lately, I’ve been reading a couple of books my daughter, Lucy recommended. On occasion, I ask my kids what they’re reading and if they think I’ll like it. The points of it are: a) easy and fun reading for me. And b) engaging in conversation and stimulating their minds (and mine) through dialogue, c) I discover what details of what they are interested in.
I’ve read all the Carl Hiassen books with my son, Max. So, I was due to get Lucy’s input. Lucy is an extreme reader. She loves to escape into a story. She remembers every detail and articulates it all to you, but only if you inquire. Maybe I should hand her Genesis and Exodus and see how she translates that back to me…hmmm.
Anyway, Lucy recommended the Penderwick Sisters books by Jeanne Birdsall. Lucy insisted I read them both and in order. So, I finished the first one and am now on the second one. The characters are fun and delightful and yet loyal and keep each other in check. It’s a fun read. Even more fun is discussing it with Lucy who’s eyes dance as she discovers in delight that I’m enjoying her recommendation.
Reusing, revisiting, and re-reading books has proven something to me – sharing knowledge – no matter at what age, it seems to me that revisiting a good book – even when you think you know it all,
“Oh, Genesis is where the world starts and God created it…got it.”
Even when you think you know it all, you’ve heard every story, or the book isn’t for your because your fifth grader is reading it – seeing it from a different perspective, say, through a kid’s eyes makes sense of a lot more. It’s beautiful.
There’s more purpose in reusing and recycling than just the pleasure of respecting the earth that God gave us. We gain common ground, perspective, joy and faith in each other.
In preparation for writing today, I cracked open my Bible and did the unthinkable, I read the forward to Genesis. Here’s part of it:
“Genesis uses words to make a foundation that is solid and true…There is an immense significance in everything that we do. Our speech and our actions and our prayers are all, every detail of them, involved in this vast building operation comprehensively known as the Kingdom of God. But we don’t build the foundation. The foundation is given. The foundation is firmly in place.”
“Jesus concluded his most famous teaching by telling us that there are two ways to go about our lives – we can build on sand or we can build on rock. No matter how wonderfully we build, if we build on sand it will fall to pieces like a house of cards. We build on what is already there, on the rock. Genesis is a verbal witness to that rock: God’s creative acts, God’s intervening and gracious judgments, God’s call to a life of faith, God’s making covenant with us.”
…”God doesn’t work impersonally from space; he work with us where we are, as he finds us. No matter what we do, whether good or bad, we continue to be part of everything that God is doing. Nobody can drop out – there’s no place to drop out to. So we may as well get started and take our place in the storey – at the beginning.”(The Message Remix – The Bible in Contemporary Language, 2003.)
