Jan
23
2018

The Book With The Blue Cover

Posted in Daily Living | Leave a comment

It happened one day each week.
We would all get up from our desks and line up.
After we lined up, we would go out into the hallway.
Once in the hallway, we walked to our destination.

It was library day.
It was the one day a week when we went to the library to choose any book we wanted.
Actually, we could choose any book we wanted from a particular section.
The sections were determined based on the grade you were in at the time.

It did not seem to matter what reading level you were.
First grade went here, second grade went there and so on.
If you forgot to return your library book from the previous week, you could only browse.
You were not allowed to choose a new book until the other one was returned.

I loved library day.
However, in my early elementary years, I did not enjoy reading as much as I would later on.
I have no idea why reading was not something I loved then.
I can still hear my mother: You are never without a friend if you have a good book.

I would always remember to return my library book from the previous week.
It was the looking and the choosing that delighted me.
I would search the spines of the books.
Sometimes, a color or pattern would catch my eye.

I would choose a book and bring it home.
I would begin to read it but nothing ever seemed to capture my attention.
I had books at home but they were hardback collections that my aunt had bought for me.
They were not the kind of book you cuddle up with on a chair and read.

I am not blaming my apathy towards reading on those wonderful books.
I still have them on my shelves to this day.
No book ever seemed to captured me.
No book seemed to hold my interest.

My class was scattered throughout the small library.
There was no talking aloud.
If someone talked or whispered, you would get immediately, shushed.
I was too busy looking at colors and patterns to do much talking.

I remember the day I saw the book.
It had a royal blue spine.
The color caught my eye.
It lacked any pattern or design, yet I still wanted to pull the book off the shelf.

The cover had a bit of a shine to it.
The cover was thick and sturdy.
Someone had taken time to cover the book well.
Someone had taken the time to write the name and the author on the front in white ink.

It was time to go back to our classroom.
I had the book in my hand.
There was no time to look for another.
I carried the royal blue book with the words in white ink to the front desk.

When I got back to my desk, I saw what the book was about.
It was a biography of Benjamin Franklin.
At first, I was disappointed that it was not a more interesting book.
However, all the interesting books were really not so interesting to me.

We had a reading chart and were expected to log the amount of reading we did each night.
Reading was something we had to do.
I sat down in a chair and turned to chapter one.
I was mesmerized.

I learned about the man who invented the lightning rod, bifocal lenses, and the Franklin Stove.
Franklin bought and published a newspaper and wrote the first political cartoon in 1754.
Franklin wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac.
He was in the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence.

What should have been dry reading, thrilled me.
I was finally captured by a book.
I quickly learned that I enjoyed non-fiction; I enjoyed reading to learn.
I quickly learned that I was a bit of a book snob when it came to fiction literature.

That was perfectly fine.
To this day, I still read non-fiction 90% of the time.
I am very selective as to the fiction authors I read.
I gather as much information as I possibly can when I read and somehow find that relaxing.

It was years later when an old adage came to mind.
When I pondered the adage, I remembered that day in the library all those years ago.
You can’t judge a book by its cover.
No, you cannot.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Some of the people we come in contact with each day are much like that book on the shelf.
We would pass right over them.
They seem to blend into the background.
We wrongly think that they do not have much to offer.

How wrong we are!
Had I not pulled that plain, blue book off the shelf, I would never have known its treasure.
I may have passed over a book that had nothing on the outside to impress me.
That day, the decision was made for me, since time was up and the book was in my hand.

I am so thankful it happened that way.
I can remember all the flashy books that, once home, were unimpressive.
Yet, in my hand I held a plain, blue book which opened the door to reading for me ever since.
What if I had passed it by?

We cannot judge a book by its cover.
We cannot judge a person by their appearance.
We cannot judge the worth of someone by what they look like on the outside.
We will only judge incorrectly.

We do not see what God sees.
We often rely on appearances for that first impression.
May we not stay there.
May we metaphorically take the book off the shelf and get to know the person.

There is treasure in that jar of clay. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9)
We are all so much more complex than we appear.
We are all valuable simply because God made us in His image.
No matter what our cover may look like, it is our heart that God sees and cares about.

So should we.

 

Whispers of His Movement and Whispers in Verse books are now available in paperback and e-book!

http://www.whispersofhismovement.com/book/

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