Today was the last day of school for my daugther. I visited chapel again this morning, as the last day is also “Awards Day.” She recieved the “Reading Award” for her class. I was very proud of her. She just finished first grade and is reading at nearly a third grade level. And, as one who loves to read, I am glad that she is doing so well in that area. I hope that she will continue to value reading much more than I did while growing up, and that she will always be a reader. I avoided reading anything that was not necessary as a child and student. I even bought the occasional CliffsNotes in college literature classes. I would usually do whatever I could to read less.

I can only recall really enjoying reading two books during my high school years (I don’t recall any from my college years.) One was George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm, which we read in my senior English class in high school. I actually remember very little about it 21 years later, but I do remember I liked it at the time. The other book, which I was also required to read in that class, became my favorite fiction book of all time - Harper Lee’s classic, To Kill A Mockingbird. (We also watched the movie that year, starring Gregory Peck, and it is one of my favorite movies as well. I think Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch is one of the greatest performances in all of cinematic history. He was just oustanding.) Due to my love of the movie as well, I’ve never actually read the book a second time. I own a copy and have wanted to for years, but never have. It’s easier to find a couple of hours to watch a movie than it is to find the time to read the book.

It would be a while, however, before I would find more to read and enjoy. As I said, I tried to avoid reading more than necessary in my literature classes in college. It wasn’t until I was out of college and on my own that I actually began to read regularly. I had begun listening to a lot of “contemporary Christian music” as I ended my college career, and so I began visiting Christian book stores more often in search of new music. This led to also checking out the books on occasion and various titles would catch my eye. Since then I’ve read many books, and found many authors who I love to read - people like Philip Yancey, Ken Gire, Brennan Manning, Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker, and, more recently, Don Miller and Erwin McManus. I have many more books that I want to read - shelves full, in fact. It seems these days it gets harder and harder to find the time, but I’ve still got a long list I’m looking to get to as soon as I can.

I hope to find a little extra time here and there this summer to do more reading, and continue to encourage my daughter to do the same. Her school sent home a “summer reading challenge” in which her teacher encouraged her to participate. She will need to read a certain number of books over the summer to complete the challenge. She was not terribly excited about it at first - I think the idea of having “homework” over the summer was not appealing. But I anticipate she’ll do great and enjoy it as the weeks go by. I’m challening myself, as well, to finish a book every two weeks. I love to read, but read too slow at times, and I’m trying to pick up the pace (and felt a book per week was too much to ask of myself). So, we’ll see if I can meet my own challenge as well. Maybe I’ll even find time to squeeze in To Kill A Mockingbird along the way.