When our first couple of kids were young, I was working at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Washington, DC. I would commute in from Alexandria, VA on the Blue line and read. It was glorious. I hated that I had to work and leave my kids at home with a babysitter, but I loved the time I had to read.
I remember reading Les Miserables. It’s a massive book, but I read it from cover to cover. That is officially my favorite book, right after the Bible. I honestly wanted to name our first son Jean Valjean. However, my husband and I realized that was just a bit over the top, so we refrained. (:= But I would read on the way to work, as I walked to the USPTO, and then in the afternoon I did the same in reverse.
I would literally call my husband in the morning to tell him some profound passage in Les Mis that I had just read.
I loved that I could read as much as I did.
More kids
With each child, I actually was able to manage to continue reading quite a bit without it being a huge issue. But that all changed when the LORD decided to bless us, and introduce twins into our lives.
Holy cow, TWINS
The twins were more difficult than I could have ever imagined. To be clear, we’re so thankful for these little blessings! But wow, they were hard for me.
I foolishly thought to myself, I’ve had 7 kids! How hard can two at one time be? I’m certain the LORD was chuckling at me at that moment. Let’s just say, pure synergy was at work, but not in a good way. In the beginning, I would sleep maybe 15 minutes at a time through the night. They were underweight as newborns. I wanted so badly to exclusively nurse them like I did all my other kids, but nope. I just couldn’t. I felt like a failure and I was delirious (I wish I was exaggerating). It seemed as if I was being humbled left and right.
So as you can imagine, the amount of reading I could do plummeted. It was disheartening, but it was completely out of my control. However, I kept on reading. Albeit a page a night most of the time.
Life is busy… and distracting
I have to confess, although our twins are older now (I can’t even believe they’re already 6!), most nights I’m still only reading 1 or 2 pages a night. Usually, I am not able to get to bed early enough to read for more than 5 minutes before falling asleep in exhaustion. I can’t blame the twins for that anymore. I can’t even blame our almost 1 year old for that. Sometimes I’m working on MHM, but sometimes, if I’m honest, I have to blame IG or FB scrolling.
But I share all of this to say that although you may just have 5 minutes to read, read the 5 minutes. Better yet, stop the scrolling and read for 10 or 15 (clearly, I’m preaching to myself here too). The most important thing is that we are consistently reading and habitually spending time in a book. You’d be amazed at how many books you can read in a year when you’re consistent. It doesn’t take hours on end.
One page at a time
So whether you find yourself with a lot of time to read like when I was a young mom, or you find yourself nodding off after 5 minutes of reading before bed, it’s all good. Little by little, page by page, one day at a time, exercising our brain in this way will always pay off. It’s so important to keep ourselves learning and growing. Our society is so infatuated with comfort and turning us all into consumers in some way, shape, or form. We need to resist the urge to be entertained with brain numbing, irrelevant things, and turn instead to fruitful and edifying endeavors, such as reading a good book.
I pray we can all encourage each other to read more. I’m currently reading Matt Walsh’s book, Church of Cowards. I find his perspective fascinating, especially since he’s Catholic and I am not. However, I’ve found that our differences don’t compare to how much we have in common. He brings up so many great points that are truly spot on. I can’t wait to share my book review of this book! Hopefully soon.
So what are YOU reading? Please share!