Reading over the Christmas holidays

I wanted to share with you a couple of things I learned while reading over the Christmas holidays. The number one thing I learned is how much I missed reading "for pleasure." I spend a lot of time reading books for my role as pastor or books to "help me grow", but I rarely read fiction titles for the purpose of enjoying a book.

During my vacation, and between times with family, I read three books. I re-discovered the joy of letting my imagination being exercised and "seeing" far-way lands as I devoured some books. I guess I realized that like my physical body and intellect, I need to exercise my imagination. I feel like my thinking is broadened and my perspective is bigger because of what I read over the break.

The second thing I learned (or re-learned) is how good a writer J. R. R. Tolkien was. I read The Children of Húrin and was blown by his ability to create worlds, peoples, and stories. He is able to draw readers into a new world that feels real, and reveals the struggle between good and evil that rages within the world and ourselves.

Tolkien is one of my favorite authors, and I am biased to like anything he has written. If you have never read Tolkien, then I would suggest you begin with The Hobbit and go on to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. His objective was to create a "new mythology" for english speaking people. This new mythology would teach people universal (biblical) truths through the use of these stories.

So, pick-up a good book and enjoy.