29 for 31. Reading and Studying.

I really wanted to blog about Adam for Post 29. I spent my entire 29th year of life dating him, but he has this rule about facebook, twitter, and blogging about our relationship, which I try to mostly follow. I will shamelessly plug his music (no rules about that) and the fact that he is seminary student. Him being a seminary student is a good lead into today's post. Since he is a student, some nights when we hang out we read and study. I know fascinating, right?!? Thankfully, I learned to read and study long before he came along.

My mom taught me to read. She made these awesome phonics charts on posterboards. We would go over them at home. You know what I am talking about - A-Apple, B-Boat, C-Car, Ch-Chair, D-Dog... You obviously had to sound the letters out. It was great fun and I loved the phonics charts, especially when they got into the blended sounds. (Some days my Arkansas accent gets in the way of good enunciation.) Mom had this thing she said about reading: "reading is caught not taught." My family was a family of readers. We didn't have to much of a choice, because they bought us lots of books. In the mornings, we passed around the cereal boxes to read the back of them. Yes, we were that family. If we were bored, we were always told... "Go read a book."

The summer I broke my arm, I loved the Babysitter's Clubs books. My aunts would send money for books and I would buy like 10 of them at time and read them in a week. Books were important and given high priority in our house.

One book was given special priority as Mom and Dad went to it everyday. I cannot remember a day when I got out of bed that I did not see Mom and/or Dad reading God's Word or knew by where their Bible was setting that they had already enjoyed time in the Word. My heart is thankful for their Godly example. When it came to Biblical things, I felt like they already knew so much. The knowledge of God always sent them back seeking and desiring to learn more. I may not have appreciated then, but I definitely do now! Proverbs seems to show it best, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." (Proverbs 9:10)

My parents' example of time reading and studying God's Word would be something that I would try to follow beginning when I was a teenager and continues even now. We are never too old to learn, especially when it comes to studying God's Word.

Stay tuned for more about God's Word...