PRAYING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ

Up to now I have only written in this blog about my own experiences and disciplines. But I have to admit I don’t think I have ever prayed at all about what I should be reading. I recognize reading voraciously is essential to being a writer. And it is beneficial to my character and the enjoyment of life. A number of books have greatly impacted my thinking and writing. And I have prayed about the content of those that struck my spirit and drew me closer to God. But it has somehow never occurred to me to pray about everything I was reading or about what I would like to read, say this month, this year or before I die.

So, I admit that these ideas are not tested truths. I am beginning to tiptoe into them and I hope to test them out in the coming weeks and months. I would really like to hear what some of you think or how you may have prayed regarding your reading.

I intend to begin each year by spending time praying about what I would like to read in the year. We are two months into 2017, but I intend to try to carve out time to pray about what God wants me to read this year. I also would like to do this at the beginning of the summer and before a trip.

I think I should also pray about the kind of books I want to be reading. I usually read more than one book at once. Don’t be impressed. I am such a slow reader that it takes me forever to get through one. But I try to always be reading a fiction book and a nonfiction. I know a few people who never read one or the other of these. I don’t think that is a good plan, especially for a writer. Both will broaden your perspective.

I also want to pray to learn technique from things I read. I remember hearing Charles Shedd say he had fifty rules by which he measured and edited his writing. I certainly need to see things I should and should not do in my writing. This needs to be a work of God. I need Him to teach me as I read.

I could pose several other principles or elements of praying for my reading. But as I admitted I have never done it at all. And when I know so little about a subject I am in danger of writing on and on. So, I will end here. But I may take up this subject again after I have read some of your comments and after I have tried to do it for a while.