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Books, books and books everywhere- in the living room, in the dining room, in the bedrooms, on the cupboard shelves and in the drawers, even in the bathrooms and in the garage ! That was the picture of my brother’s home in the Northside of Chicago, when I visited him. I was very impressed by what I saw. This was so because the scenario was not very much different from mine, save for the fact that I have no books in my bathroom or garage. I however have an advantage that my ministry and legal offices are loaded with quantities of books . We are definitely not the only ones who have books loaded in our homes and offices. We even have public libraries in many localities made available to people.
Are there many books everywhere, but few people to read them ? I have often heard the complaint that generally, people don’t love to read books. There is the argument that people prefer to spend hours either watching TV, chatting or talking on the phone, working on their computers or complaining of socio-economic problems, than reading books. Is this a true assertion? What do you think about this?
A pastor friend I met the other day offered a different opinion. He stated that people do read books, but only books that are relevant to their immediate needs ! He said for instance, if people are in financial problems, they read books on how to generate and manage finances; If they have marital problems, they read books on marriage, etc. Again, is this a true assertion? What is your opinion on all of these ?
Some people seem to have a different attitude about books. Let us consider this story. There was this young man, whose father gave him a Bible as his wedding gift. As it is the case with some of us, this son took the Bible home, placed it on his bookshelf, and forgot about it. Indeed, he never touched the Bible, not to talk of reading it.
About a year or two later, this son called his father and begged for money. The father, on his part, asked the son twice whether he had been reading the Bible that he, the father, offered him on the day of his wedding. The son answered in the affirmative on each occasion. As noted earlier, the son never read this Bible.
When the son said he had been reading the Bible, the father answered that if he had been reading that Bible, then he, the son, would not be complaining of poverty so soon, and begging for money. The father then asked the son to go and open the Bible again, and to report back what he found inside. The father actually insisted on this.
The son then reluctantly, brought down the Bible from the shelf where it had been lying all the while; he wiped the dust off the Bible and opened it. Guess what? He found several US dollar notes lined inside the pages of the Bible ! These amounted to a very huge amount, which was capable of sustaining the son and his wife for about five (5) Years. Unknown to this son, the father had secretly inserted this money in the pages of the Bible for the son. So, who says there is no money in the Bible? We are speaking literally. Indeed, the good news is that, not only is money found in the Bible, but everything we need in life is found in the Bible – the most important Book ever (This is for another story).
It has been said that, “if you open a book, you open a new world…Books are packed with knowledge, insights into a happy life, life lessons…helpful advice.”(Anonymous). If this were not so, then why do people spend millions of hours writing books, and equally spend millions of dollars publishing them? Further, if this were not true, then why would people and institutions spend billions of dollars establishing schools, libraries and bookstores? And then, answer this question: if the things we need in life were not found in books, then why would my brother and myself have our homes and offices practically filled with books dealing with various areas of life? If this were not so, why would individuals and institutions invest heavily in books?
There are worthwhile secrets in life that you need, that can only be found in books !Books can impact and transform your life; books can inspire you to higher heights; books can give you some new learning, and much more. Go on, get to the books, read them, understand them, learn the lessons, and most importantly, put the lessons you learn into practice relentlessly. Hope to see you at the top !
What do you think about this article? Make your comments known. Most importantly, if you love it, share it with others. Thank you.
By Maurice WELABI NGUEMAKO
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