Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.— Jim Rohn
Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.
You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper than of a sword or pistol
I learnt to read from my dad, who is an avid reader of books. From a young age, through observation and commitment, I started reading some of his books and in my adult years I've channelled this habit into reading christian literature. Give me a 700 page novel by Francine Rivers book and I will finish it in no time but I didn’t start that way. There were days I couldn't even complete 20-page booklets but because reading is an art that is cultivated and mastered over time, I've now got an edge in this act. And oh am I enjoying the enlightenment, refreshment and liberty that reading brings to my soul.
There's likely a couple of people on this 40-day journey who dread reading but if you have actually been reviewing the bulletins, you have managed to read 70 pages. That's more than 100 pages on an 8-inch x 5-inch book. So, what makes you think you can't read? Is it that you just have not made time or set a goal to read because you don't know the transforming impact it can have on your life and generations? By reading in little chunks, you have taken a vital step to change your life and shift your generations forward and for the better. Moreover, if you have been answering the journal questions, then you have also set yourself on track to develop a habit of journaling. These two habits of reading and writing have shaped history greatly and you cannot afford to miss these if you mean business about making a trans-generational impact.
In spite of the opposition Jeremiah was facing during the exile, he made the effort to write this letter - that is good stewardship. Daniel too, amidst his busy schedules as a government official, made time to read and thoroughly acquaint himself with this knowledge and prophetic word. What is your excuse?
This is a scary statement from the Lord! Generations would be rejected and forsaken for lack of knowledge? Whereas Jeremiah and Daniel secured and restored their generations because they loved knowledge enough to write, seek and act on it? Beloved, where are you and your generations after upi standing? Are you carving a secure future or putting posterity's welfare in jeopardy?
If you are a movie lover, and watched classics, you must have seen or read one of my favourite movies based on Alexandre Dumas’s 1844 novel, The Count of Monte Cristo . The protagonist, Edmond Dantès, was falsely accused of treason, imprisoned without trial and sent to an island fortress called Château d’if as a nineteen year old. What was his crime? He carried a letter whose content he did not even know to Napoleon - Dantès could not read or write. The island was an impossible place for one to think of escaping but he fortunately met an old learned Italian priest in prison who taught him about reading, mathematics, economics, science, philosophy, history, languages and sword fighting. What was supposed to be a misfortune worked for his good. His liberation hinged on the knowledge he received from the Mad Priest and the documentation of the location of a treasure passed onto him.
What would have happened if Daniel never read? Would Israel have remained in slavery longer than the time prophesied? The answer is a big YES. Many opportunities are missed; prophecies are delayed; projects are stalled, and legacies destroyed or robbed because of ignorance or partial information. An entire generation of Israelites would have been wiped out if Mordecai’s gesture of exposing the plot of two eunuchs to assassinate King Xerxes had not been documented (Esther 2:21-23). What if the king had never read the account the night he was restless (Esther 6:1-12)? Would Mordecai have gained favour in his sight? Would his testimony against Haman be given credibility?
In my days in university, I had a very big issue and weakness that I still have till date. Don’t take me to a book shop with money in my pocket. Just mention a book title or share details of a good one I haven't read and my visit to a bookshop would be certain. Why? I want to change my life and if people perish for lack of knowledge then I need knowledge. I didn’t buy the latest fashionable clothings, footwear or watches - these are good anyway - I bought every book that could change my life from my monthly allowances and I left campus with a mini library. The difference between me and some colleagues is simple: I have been to places they have not been, met important people they haven’t yet met, cried and laughed with people they may never meet in this life, sharpened my mind through insights from the greatest of minds and all happened through books. I still have my mini-library and everywhere I go, I make other libraries. One day, when the generations look at my library, they will know what shaped the man that I become. What are you willing to pass unto the next generation?
I once read a customer review on Amazon by Marwan, he said “I encourage anyone who is looking for help in life to follow the rabbit down the rabbit hole of books. You are bound to find a way out of your situation no matter how dire it inside books. It's not like there's this one book that is earth shattering, or they call now a 'Quake Book', that you should seek. Rather, the accumulation of knowledge and ideas through the iteration of the same timeless wisdom written by many wise men over the course of history. You find yourself reading the same book from which you started your journey with a new set of eyes, you understand the meaning better, you absorb more wisdom from the same words as you find that reading more books helps lifting more layers of the veil of ignorance you were born into”.
I never understood the importance of documentation until my grandfather died. The late chief Inspector (RTD) Doe Xortome Korbla was an amazing man to me. As children, we loved him for the toffees and special treats. He was always found reading the newspaper or a book. Before he passed, he came to spend some time with my parents and even then he would not miss any opportunity to read. In his last moments, he had one Rhapsody of Realities by Pastor Chris that he was always reading. As a reader, he was very much abreast with history however, when he passed, we never got the opportunity to see anything he had written down. None of us could build on his vast experience and knowledge. So, as we learn to shift generations, let us not only amass wealth for the next generation. Let us also carefully document family history, traditions, success stories, failures and hand them down to the next generation. I've been documenting a lot of things for my children’s children and I strongly recommend you do same.
It is said that history is likely to repeat itself if people don’t know the stories of the past. American philosopher , George Santayana said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This is indeed one of the cause of the chasm between generations. In the book The Generation Without Fathers , the author said, “one of the greatest causes for the disconnection between us and our predecessors is our failure to read and write. We know little, or should I say nothing, about the legacies of the fathers. Because of this, we are not able to identify with them or receive from them”.
Many people are very lazy when it comes to reading and writing. We go to church and leave without any notes or records: this is not smartness but foolishness. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments he wrote it down on tablets for him. Do you think He didn’t know Moses had a sharp mind? The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” (Exodus 24:12) A small piece of paper can hold information longer than the average mind and the faintest pencil is better than the sharpest mind. In this era of technology, we are without excuse.
Maybe your excuse is that you didn't an opportunity for formal education but I know of people who learned to read or were taught by God. In my days in Sunyani, I met a man from the North who could not read and write because he had never been to school. When his pastor asked him to buy a Twi bible, that sounded irrational but he obeyed and bought the Bible. Anytime he went to the farm he would pray and during sit under a tree and try to read. Till I left that place, this guy was reading the Twi Bible at our Sunday school preparatory class and I always looked on in amazement. Is it not sad that someone can make this statement that if you want to hide anything from the black man put it in a book?
If we truly want to shift generations, we must cultivate and develop the habit of reading and writing. You don’t have to be a preacher, an academician to read. If you don’t want to perish in this life then get something and start reading. Develop the habit of writing, journalling and passing on information to the next generation. Remember, “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future. (American author, Robert Heinlein)”