The purpose of this blog is to help myself and others grow in their pursuit of things that are lovely, good, and beautiful. I decided some time ago that this would be helpful to me as I attempt to follow Proverbs 4:23 in guarding my heart. If I want what flows from my heart to be life-giving, I must think on the things of Philippians 4:8 (Whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely…).
Although I have written previously about the importance of filling our pitchers at God’s cistern, I am also in agreement with the writer Karen Swallow Prior who states that Spiritual formation comes from outward influences as well. Prior writes in Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me that:
I know that spiritual formation is of God, but I also know – mainly because I learned it from books – that there are other kinds of formation, too, everyday gifts, and that God uses the things of this earth to teach us and shape us, and to help us find truth.
She confesses that for a large part of her life she “loved books more than God, never discovering for a long, long time that a God who spoke the world into existence with words is, in fact, the source of meaning of all words.” I am afraid that I too must confess to at least having loved reading books more frequently than reading God’s Word for much of my life.
However, it is also true that many of the books that I have read have reinforced, accentuated, and underlined the truths found in scripture. And, for me, this is one of the reasons that reading will not only continue to be a lifelong pursuit, but a worthy endeavor that I am training my children to pursue as well. Yes, we are purposefully pursuing the reading of scripture, and using his word to help fill and guard our hearts. But, the discovery of truth is a “process that occurs over time, more fully with each idea or book that gets added to the equation” (Prior, 14.)
This reinforcement of ideas was brought home to me most recently as my two youngest sons (ages 10 and 13) were listening to the audible book Heidi by Johanna Spyri. At one particular part of the story, young Heidi was struggling with homesickness and her friend’s grandmother (in whose home she was currently staying) noticed that she was sad. When the grandmother asked Heidi what was wrong, Heidi did not feel it would be polite to share her sadness for fear of offending the generosity of her hosts. So the grandmama comforted Heidi with these wonderful words:
When one has a sorrow that can not be told to anybody else on earth, it must be confided to God. And He must be asked for help and comfort. He can make our sorrows lighter and teach us to bear them.
Several weeks later, one of my boys went to bed sad. I found him later, crying softly into his pillow. When I asked him if he could share what was wrong, he shook his head vehemently and said, “I am like Heidi. It would hurt someone else’s feelings too much to talk about.” Although this wrenched my heart in two, I was comforted to know that he had taken the words from the book to heart as I asked him, “and are you like Heidi as well in that you are able to confide in God about this and ask him to comfort you?” My son nodded affirmatively and I was able to leave him in peace to wrestle with God about his struggle.
It was not many weeks longer before the subject matter that my son considered to be unspeakable for fear of offense came to light. It is true, it was something that was hurtful to hear. But, in taking the time to talk with God about the issue, he finally gained the courage to speak about it. Repentance, confession, and forgiveness of and by all injured parties took place and everyone is sleeping more restfully as a result. However, it took more than just a knowledge of scriptures like 1 Peter 5:7 (“casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you”) to fully influence my son to approach God in prayer. It also took a reinforcement of that truth, a reminder.
Because reading is such a source of joy for me, personally, I have decided to periodically share books or quotes that have been life-giving and come alongside scripture in helping to fill my heart with things that are true, good, pure, lovely, etc. I hope that they will become a blessing to you as well.