Monday

All weekend my back hurt, so today I went to the chiropractor. I'll be glad when it's tomorrow...the first day always feels the worst, doesn't it?!

I finished Honey for a Child's Heart for the second time. It is such a wonderful book! She talked about sharing books with your children. She commented that the characters in the books are like good friends, and shared books means that you and your child have shared friends as well.

She told about her son getting in a situation of peer pressure that could have been harmful if he went along with the crowd, but at that pivotal moment, a book about a similar situation came to mind. Since the outcome of the book's peer pressure moment had turned out so badly, her son knew what he must do, and he chose to do the right thing.

She said that at first it was she and her husband recommending books for their children, but as their children got older, they started recommending beloved books for their parents to share as well.

I love this quote from the book:
"As Christian parents we are concerned about building whole people- people who are alive emotionally, spiritually, intellectually. The instruction to train up a child in the way he should go encompasses so much more than teaching him the facts of the gospel. It is to train the child's character, to give him high ideals, and to encourage integrity. It is to provide largeness of thought, creative thinking, imaginative wondering - an adequate view of God and His world. He can never really appreciate the finest without personal redemption. But many a redeemed person lives in a small insecure world because he has never walked with God into the larger place which is His domain. We have books and the Book at our disposal to use wisely for God's glory.

A young child, a fresh uncluttered mind, a world before him - to what treasures will you lead him? With what will you furnish his spirit?" (pp 21)

What wonderful places children (and adults!) can go in books! What awesome people we can meet! And what great lessons we can learn, even from dangerous situations, while we sit safely on the sofa.

When my older children were small I would admonish them to choose their books carefully, because the people in those books would be their closest friends for the next several days as they were reading those books. If the characters didn't have the same principles we did, it was likely that my children would learn bad habits, even if it was to be sad or naughty, from them. I hope they continue to think of those things as they pick out books for themselves that I am now unfamiliar with.

Reading is a wonderful opportunity for growth and learning. Through The Long Winter I learned that I need to be prepared for emergencies and to never take things for granted. By the way, that is the next month's book on my reading list for the book club.

I hope that you will read Honey for a Child's Heart with me this month, and be sure and let me know what you think of it, will you?