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The Benefits of Reading Good Books

August 1, 2018 By Author John Leave a Comment

Reading Good Books

Six Reasons to Read Good Books

Reading at Leisure Relaxes the Soul

In an age of non-stop action, setting aside leisure time for reading good books relaxes the inner you, your soul. I like the way Neil Gaiman states it: “There’s nothing like sitting down with a good book, and dog earring its pages and writing notes in its margins, when a particular passage or turn of phrase really lands. Books allow us to lose ourselves, and free our minds, if even for fleeting moments.”

Reading BooksSomeone might protest that they do not have leisure time. True. We live in a fast paced world, and that is all the more reason to carve out leisure time. I read for a half hour to an hour almost every night. I know of people who work in the area and have their lunch at a local restaurant. They carry a book with them and use that time for reading a good book at leisure. Carry a book with you to the dentist office, the doctor’s office, or the place you have your car serviced. One simply has to have the will to carve out a bit of time to read at leisure.

Reading Gives Opportunity to Pause and Give Thought

Much of what people take in today they take in by way of television, videos, and the like. They view the story instead of reading the story. When you view the story you do not have time to think about the nuances of the content. Reading good books gives opportunity to pause and give thought to what is being taken in. Viewing a movie I may relax and enjoy it, laugh or cry, but I do not have time to think about why this part of a scene is important, or what the impact is on my mind, or whether or why some aspect might be good or bad. Reading good books gives “leisure” to stop and contemplate the content.

Reading Stimulates the Imagination

Pirate StoryAs I mentioned in my previous blog, Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Treasure Island stimulated my imagination to act out my own pirate stories in my play and eventually to write pirate stories. Watching others act out a story on a screen has not had the same effect relative to stimulating my imagination. I have no data on the matter, but it seems to me that continually watching others act out stories tends to dull the imagination. We just want to go on to the next movie.

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Filed Under: Author Blog Tagged With: Christian authors, good books, good reading habits, imagination, pirate stories, reading at leisure

Writing Stories and Tending God’s Sheep

December 28, 2016 By Author John Leave a Comment

Writing Stories for Sheep

Musings from My Journal

Writing Stories with Thought to Their Impact

As mentioned in my previous post, I am sharing musings from my journal.

contemplating writing stories I wrote the following while reflecting on the nature of pastoral ministry. However, upon reading it again, it strikes me that it also applies to Christian writers. It seems to me that as a Christian, when writing stories I have a responsibility to shepherd, to give thought to the impact of my story on the reader for good or for ill.

THE TASK (a musing)

People are so impatient in your work, Lord. It is as if they are trying to run ahead of you to prove how much they can accomplish by their own prowess. They tread on your little lambs. They push the weak aside. The slow learner they annihilate. They raise the rich and strong up high.

Is not each sheep important, Lord? Is not each one our charge? Should we not love the weak, Lord, without failing to love the strong? Without lessening our love for the healthy should we not help the sick along?

Wait!

Writer writing storiesI hear a voice ringing down the short corridor of time, “Shepherd my sheep; take care! Remember when you were lost on the mountain so weak and sick with despair, I left a throne of glory to traverse the wild and bare. Thou worm, thou worm, shepherd my sheep; take care.”

“Come, little sheep, gather into the fold and let me dress your wounds. You have been left out with the wolves too long and the master is coming soon. There is so much to do. Yet to hurry would mean ineffective care. So although the master is coming I’ll patiently dress your sores; and with tender love I will shepherd you till we see him face to face. Then the words, Thou worm will be altered, and he will say, “Thou good and faithful servant, well done. You have been a shepherd to all my sheep, you have not neglected one.”

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Filed Under: Author Blog Tagged With: Christian authors, christian stories, man's fallen condition, musings, my personal story

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John Edgell, Author

John has experience as a school teacher, a pastor, and has been a writer of stories since his two sons were knee high to a gnome.

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