Books on shelves line my walls. They are like a lifeline for me. Along one wall are the books I’ve completely read and kept. I look at the bindings and … Continue reading The Age of the Book may be ending, but …
Tag: reading
Take a trip to Ideas
A vacation for me is having time to travel, not to places but to ideas. I go there by means of books.
The books grabbing my attention now sit on the flat arms of my recliner in the study and on the top of my nearby desk.
This morning, I started with The Thickness of Glory by John Killinger; it’s in my lap.
The New American Standard New Testament rests to my right. It will be next.
On the left is T.S. Eliot’s For Lancelot Andrewes and Denise Shekerjian’s Uncommon Genius.
In the middle of my desk is Will Durant’s The Age of Faith. And on top of it is A Game of Thrones, which is how I ended Tuesday and probably will end today.
I’m not sure why I thought to share this; maybe because it is a way of enjoying a day that seems so foreign to this time. For many of us, the best traveling occurs in our minds.
Last night I started watching a movie that included an airport scene. I found myself getting stressed just watching it. Exit. This is vacation from stress time.
I do like seeing interesting places; I just hate the getting there if it involves airports and airplanes. I do like a good road trip because there is plenty of time to think. One of the best trips of my life was driving from Texas to Vancouver with Cameron. There and back again, to quote a hobbit. Thousands of beautiful miles and precious company.
With books and ideas I like both the trip and the arriving at the end.
My perfect vacation day continues.
Feeling guilty & wonderful
Growing up in my family, no one sat around all day reading, especially not on a beautiful spring day. The adults occupied themselves with work around the yard and house, visiting with neighbors, fishing, shopping, working cows or building fences, etc. The kids occupied themselves with play or the same things as the adults.
Today, as I have on other occasions, I have broken with family custom and read and read and read. I’m now in the midst of This Far By Faith: Stories from the African American Religious Experience, by Juan Williams and Quinton Dixie. I am so loving it, but it is hard to because I keep feeling guilty that I’m not doing something physically productive (mowing) or physically engaging (cycling). There simply is no way to escape my past completely.
Mom has always been a book reader, but she only gets to do so in snatches. Dad has always been a newspaper reader, but the television is dominant. My sister is a big-time book reader and may have spent some long days reading during our growing up days, but I was primarily watching my parents and still compare the adult me to the adult them, and we are rather different even though we all love and enjoy one another.
So, I read. At some point I will get tired of sitting and reading and I will go for one of my book-walks (reading while I walk). In fact I think it’s time for that now. I don’t feel as guilty when I walk and read because I’m doing something with my body. It’s a compromise of sorts between me and my upbringing. I’m off.
The blessings of a vacation
Vacations are wonderful when you don’t have a lot of plans. You get to simply do the things you like to do. For me, this means being with family, reading, writing, and enjoying the out-of-doors.
But I am doubly blessed; I like my “job.” I don’t miss it when I’m away because there are so many things I like to do, but I also love to do my job stuff, as well. That hasn’t always been the case.
Vacations give you a chance to get re-centered. For me, that term means I have a chance to relax from deadlines and responsibilities and focus more on simply being, which involves a lot of thinking. And that’s where the reading and writing come in; they both help me think. And when I think I tend to know and appreciate God, others, and myself better.
Thank God for today.
