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Do You Enjoy Reading?

If you don’t like reading . . . this is for you!

Do you really like to read? Many people don’t. They consider reading a chore and cannot understand why other people read so much.

I used to be that way. I read slowly, so I lost interest quickly. I didn’t like reading, so I didn’t read very much. Not reading much, I never got the practice I needed to become a good reader.

Oh, I read what I had to to get through school, and I got above-average grades, but reading was not fun. I remember counting the pages to the end of a chapter to see how soon I could go out into the yard and play. “Two and a half pages more,” I remember thinking, “I’ll never get there!”

My wife cannot understand this. She says: “My mother read to me avidly​—not just about the Bible, but anything she found that was at my age level. Then she took me to the library and introduced me to the pleasure of checking out and reading books.”

Since my wife got a good start, she read a great deal. The practice helped her to read easily and well. Someone showed her some principles of speed reading. Unlike me, she wanted a book to be longer​—to have more pages to read so she could enjoy them too!

Many persons have not learned to read easily and rapidly enough to enjoy it. I was almost 25 years old when a strong desire to know things that are found in books pushed me to read enough for reading to become easy​—almost effortless.

What wonderful things you can learn by reading! Think of the people you can meet. What would you have been willing to do to get to hear Moses speak to the nation of Israel or to hear the wisdom of ancient King Solomon? They have been dead for thousands of years, but they wrote, and you can read their words​—just as if you were hearing them today.

How far would you be willing to go to hear someone who knew Jesus personally? Imagine the aged apostle John sitting down nearly 2,000 years ago to write his experiences as a close companion of Jesus Christ. Then remember that you can read what John wrote! You will find it in the Bible book that bears his name.

If your family appreciated the marvelous blessing of reading, they may have encouraged you to read well. Remember, too, that God chose to have his Word written down so we could read and use it.

If reading presents a problem for you, don’t be ashamed to start with simple things. You will feel good about your success. My Book of Bible Stories, Your Youth​—Getting the Best out of It, Making Your Family Life Happy and You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, all published by the Society that publishes this magazine, provide important but easy-to-read information. So do the personal life stories often printed in this magazine.

As you progress you will enjoy reading things that are more and more difficult. You will come to appreciate that reading​—like speech and writing—​is a gift from God. You will find that it can provide instruction and pleasure and can help you on the road to everlasting life. What great joys you can have through developing the wonderful gift of reading!​—Contributed.