READING IS AWESOME!!

(Overdramatic title? I think not.)

       How have you been spending your quarantine? My time is spent urging Logan to focus on his schoolwork and attending to the various and sundry things that need to be done. My time spent working in the kitchen has increased, which has been good. Despite all this activity, I’ve been struggling. I’ve realized that I use not having time as an excuse to do things that I just don’t want to do. I have laundry piled up, but it’s not getting done and that is no fault of not having time. My attitude fluctuates between “I love staying home!” to “Let’s just get through this,” to, “I’m going to throttle someone.” It’s hard to focus on anything with Jason working downstairs and Logan trying to work at his desk. The teachers have done an incredible job of creating online curriculum and hosting Zoom meetings to keep the kids connected. I’m trying to be a good mom by watching Logan, refocusing his attention when needed, and assisting him when it is necessary, yet at the end of the day I feel drained and I haven’t even done anything. I’m trying to have some creative outlets, like making YouTube videos and writing, but I feel like my thoughts are experiencing a traffic jam inside my head. I’m not much for talking on the phone rather, I love deep conversations shared over coffee or tea. Digital meetups are good, but they just aren’t the same. My INFP brain wants to be home alone and be in deep conversations and be teaching a class all at the same time. My heart also aches for all those struggling with sickness, loss of job or income, fear, and loneliness. I feel the burdens of others with such intensity it physically hurts. Then I look to God who is in control. I look to God who literally laid the burden of sin on His only Son to pay the debt for my sin. I look to Christ who has conquered death and offers me life in Him. Deep breath. One day at a time. One activity at a time.
       When my brain starts to get wacky and my thoughts run off into the realm of “what ifs” I’ve learned the best thing I can do is investigate. A love of reading and a wealth of curiosity have made my life richer. When I lose my mind in frustration over my circumstances, I turn to God’s Word where I can find truth about who God is and what He asks of me. When I become concerned about the government I can research the law and take action by writing those who represent me. When I need a new recipe because I’ve cooked everything I know how to make twice, I turn to cookbooks and blogs with exciting new ideas that will satisfy our family. What do I need to make all this possible? Reading. 

       I know that many people see reading as a thing nerds do or as an exercise in academic drudgery. This. Breaks. My. Heart. If you are in the crowd that could leave reading for the educational elite or for the nerdy oddballs, let me argue that reading is so much more than boring stories and droll information. Reading also takes place using cookbooks, novels, non-fiction books, articles, trade publications, etc. In the classroom, whether it was my own or another teacher I was subbing for, I often heard the statement, “Why do we have to read? It’s so stupid!” I want to note that while it is important for students to read the textbooks assigned to them for online classes, textbooks are not what I am talking about when I talk about reading. Interesting books, that take the reader on an adventure throughout space and time, abound and offer insights that will give new depts of understanding not previously experienced. The more you read the better you become at reading. The better you are at reading and decoding information the better you will be at life. Okay. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but maybe not. Let me lay out three ways that reading will change your life and the lives of those in your care. 
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1. Learning to read is fundamental to understanding the world around us. Reading statistics involves both a basic understanding of facts and how they are collected. Here’s a non-virus related statistic that I’ve seen often recently. According to the CDC the infant mortality rate in the United States is 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. This means that the United States ranks 55th when compared to other countries/regions in the world. (See the CIA World Factbook) Politicians use this to decry the state of the American medical system and tell us that we aren’t as great as we think we are. The numbers PROVE it, right? Wrong. As shown by a journal article written by researchers at Texas A&M University the numbers are complicated. “The first nuance is one of definition. Infant mortality is defined as the death of babies under the age of one year, but some of the differences between countries can be explained by a difference in how we count. Is a baby born weighing less than a pound and after only 21 weeks' gestation actually "born?" In some countries, the answer is no, and those births would be counted as stillbirths. In the United States, on the other hand, despite these premature babies' relatively low odds of survival, they would be considered born -- thus counting toward the country's infant mortality rates.” So this means that other countries don’t count babies born with no chance of survival as ever having lived. This changes their numbers. So it’s not about the US and our terrible health system it’s about the US and our recognizing life as life. It’s about our medical system attempting to save babies born months premature and giving those lives dignity and respect. Reading beyond the numbers and embracing the curiosity to ask why the numbers seemed skewed revealed powerful truths about how we currently embrace life. 
2. Reading calms anxiety. How do you feel about bridges? I love them. Back in high school, my teacher arranged a competition for building bridges out of 100 toothpicks. My dad with assistance from me (sort of)  built the coolest truss bridge which held 72 pounds. That competition and subsequent bridge competitions have made me interested in the quality and strength of bridges. If you’re a bridge hater, you might gain some love for them by studying the engineering and architecture that goes into bridge design. Study failures and what makes them go wrong. My favorite bridge design videos begin with this one from MIT. The best video of catastrophic bridge failure is from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. This failure was truly epic! So how does all this study about bridges and bridge failure ease my anxiety? Well, I know how they are built and I know why they fall down. I know something isn’t right when I see a headline like this - “Townsend pedestrian crosswalk collapses over I-94 at Van Dyke, all lanes closed.” Pedestrian crosswalk collapse! That’s terrifying! One minute you’re walking over the crosswalk and the next minute - BOOM - collapse. I instantly clicked on the article to see what happened and soon realized this wasn’t a story about catastrophic bridge failure. It was a story about a pedestrian bridge collapsing AFTER being struck by a semi-truck traveling on the expressway. THAT is a totally different story. It is not shocking that after being struck at high speed by a semi-truck a pedestrian bridge would collapse. It was not built to absorb that force. No pedestrians were injured by the way. Do you see the difference that reading made in understanding this story? By reading and looking into the details I see the cause and understand that bridges don’t randomly collapse. Anxieties about the what-ifs are removed and I gain greater understanding.  
3. Reading allows for the rule of reason over fear. I cringe when I hear well-meaning Christians celebrate that they listen to God over “Science” and they don’t worry about all that academic stuff. I will concede that there are many aspects of the Christian walk that require faith, but even that faith is based on doctrine given in God’s Word. What God asks of me doesn’t change based on God’s random whims. Hebrews 13:8 offers a truth that we can take great comfort in especially during tumultuous times, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  The gods of mythology operated on their fickle whims and violent urges. They sent followers to their deaths with only thoughts of their own pleasure. God created the world to function according to the laws he established. For more information on this read God and Natural Laws. He created elements to behave by certain properties which means I can know with certainty that my granite countertop won’t melt away on a hot day but the butter I leave on it will. This helps me think rationally and allows me to be grateful for the world that he has created. It helps me understand Him better when I study the world he created. I can make informed decisions based on natural laws that help me grow and learn. When walking through a forest I can marvel at the root structure and strength of trees without fearing that a tree will randomly fall over on me. I don’t worship reason, but I do worship the God who created a reasonable and orderly world.

I hope this helped. Sometimes I get discouraged about writing and posting. I see so much amazing content out there and wonder if my voice is really needed, but I truly enjoy the challenge of posting and writing. Thank you for reading and learning with me. 

Below I’ve posted a YouTube video I made about reading to children. In the first half, I read one of my favorite books and in the second half, I talk about some strategies that parents can use to boost reading comprehension when reading to children. ​