Indulge me, if you, for a moment, because my day has started about five hours ago, but because it began in the wee hours of the morning, I've not yet done much worth writing about. Yet, here I am, already beginning my entry for the day because I want to talk to you about one of the many loves of my life - reading.
God gave me the gift of reading, and reading well, thanks to several wonderful teachers in my life who taught me how to read and instilled in me a love of books. I'll never own a kindle because I love the feel, sound, and smell of cracking open the bound pages and going off on adventures and mysteries or having a good laugh within the pages of my chosen reading material.
Now, I know many of you who read me are also readers of books, not just readers of diaries, but whether you are one of those or you aren't, this next message is for you.
I'm talking about Twelve in 12 in 2011.
What is it? Starting January 1st, read a book every month for the next twelve months.
Why bother? Because reading levels for adults are really low in the US. In fact, many people don't even bother to read one book a year. This is a plan to try to remedy that.
Twelve in 12 was started with a very simple goal: to get more people to read books.
Obviously, there are people out there reading for the final Harry Potter to be such a success. There were lines of people waiting hours and hours to get their hands on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry Potter has a fame that lately has been devoted to things such as American Idol.
Harry Potter has gotten lots and lots of people reading. However, it shouldn’t end with Harry Potter. While browsing a chat about books I saw a statement that said most Americans will not read one book a year. Not one? How can that be?
I had to find some more reliable statistics. Surely, most people read at least one book a year right? This is what I came across:
- One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.
- 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
- 42% of college graduates never read another book.
- 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
- 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
- 57% of new books are not read to completion.
This has to change. Upon seeing those statistics, my heart nearly broke. 80% of families in the US did not buy or read a book? I think the world would end if our family wasn’t able to make it to the bookstore once a month at the very least.
How to get more people to read though? The statistics come from a publishing site. Obviously publishers want more books to have the success of Harry Potter. Libraries, book associations, and schools around the country are always trying to get more people to read.
So what could I do? The answer to the problem came in one of those moments of accidental genius. While discussing the issue with a friend, I made the statement “everyone should have to read one book a month for a year”.
That was the birth of Twelve in 12. A challenge to read twelve books- one a month for a year. The challenge starts on January 1st, 2011, and will run through the end of next December, 2011.
It’s a simple idea, with a simple goal: Get more people to read.
I feel it is my responsibility to share with you this Twelve in 12 project for a few reasons:
- I love books
- I am fully committed to reading and literacy
- Amy and I are running Twelve in 12 for this year
- I want to share my love of books and reading with everyone
I want to challenge you to pick up this project for 2011. If you're not a reader by nature, go out on a limb and try something new for this year. If you are a reader, then the challenge should be a cakewalk for you. Or maybe you'll discover, as I did the first year I did this challenge, that committing to a book a month is not as easy as it sounds, no matter how much you love to read.
Wherever you are in the reading spectrum, I urge you to go to the Twelve in 12 diary and sign up for the challenge by leaving a note on the challenge page. Broaden your mind and step outside of your box to try something new. You won't regret it.
Thank you for indulging my plug of Twelve in 12. I'm sure you'll all be hearing a lot about it in the coming year.
Even though I haven't technically started my day by doing much, I have actually read the next chapter in The Purpose Driven Life, so I've been a little bit productive this morning. This chapter is still about friendship with God, but about how to develop that relationship into a true friendship and intimacy that God wants to have with each and every one of us.
I've said many times, here in my diary, throughout the 10 years I've been here, that God and I argue all the time. Well, mostly it's me arguing, yelling, railing at him, giving him a piece of mind, whatever you want to call it. I'm in good company. Moses argued with God. David argued with him. Jacob spent and entire night wrestling with God until God let him win. I'm already doing something right.
God wants honesty in our relationship, just as any human friend would expect from you. He wants to know ALL your feelings, whether they are good or bad. He wants you to yell. He wants you to argue if you feel you have a case. He wants every joy, happiness, sadness, whatever. God is kinda greedy that way. He wants it ALL from you. But to develop a deeper friendship with him, first and foremost, you have to be honest with him about yourself and where you're coming from. He knows how you feel, but he wants to HEAR it from you. Talking it out with him will keep you from growing bitter and resentful. Instead of pulling away from God, give it to him, full force. He can take it.
We also have to obey in faith. Whether you understand it or not, trusting in God's wisdom and doing whatever he says, will also deepen your friendship with God. I don't always understand why he made things the way they are, but I try to follow in faith anyway. I'm not always successful. Sometimes my will gets in the way, and admittedly, I am a stubborn cuss. But he told us flat out, "You are my friends if you do what I command." I don't know about anyone else, but I'd rather be God's friend than his enemy.
Desiring his friendship more than anything else is also important in developing a deeper relationship to God. David, Paul, and Jacob all showed their passion, their desire, for this type of friendship throughout the pages of the Bible. Truth is, I DO want God's friendship. I want to live in his presence for all eternity and be counted among those he calls friends, and I want it bad. The thing with closeness to God, is that we are as close to him as we choose to be. It's all up to us whether we grow near or far, and nothing should be more important than being as close to God as we can possibly be.
Point to Ponder: I'm as close to God as I choose to be.
Verse to Remember: James 4:8a - Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.
Question to Consider: What practical choices will I make today in order to grow closer to God?
I am a practical person by nature. I think I'm already making the choices to grow closer to God by reading this book, by writing about it and sharing what I've learned and how I live my faith. I'm talking to him more, and trying to remind myself to praise and thank him often throughout the day. And we already know that I have no problem telling God off, in a sense, because when I get upset, I get very vocal with him if I think he's slighted me in some way.
I can do more and try and be better, however. I'm not perfect at it, by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think I have a strong and deep friendship with God, but I think I'm trying to get there.
So, I'm back, but you didn't even know I left. I had a hair appointment at 10:30 this morning. I don't know if I'm happy with it. It's blonde and copper streaked and still the inverted bob, but it is TONS shorter than I usually wear it. I'll take a picture soon, when I'm wearing makeup, so you can see. Al doesn't like it because it's too short as far as he's concerned, but otherwise, he said "It looks fine." That means he hates it.
I didn't see my regular stylist because she was all booked up for tomorrow and she doesn't work on Saturdays, for starters. The lady who did my hair is really nice and I don't blame her, much. My regular stylist didn't update my customer card, so there was no record of what colors she used in my hair, or how she did it. The new lady and I just had to do our best guesses. Not only am I copper and blonde streaked and much shorter than usual, the whole thing cost me almost $200 with tip.
I didn't get to buy my shampoo and conditioner because I didn't want to overdraft again. That also meant I didn't get to have my eyebrows, lip and chin waxed, or have my nails done. Not only that, but now I also have no money to go downtown with Amy on Tuesday and I have no money for the football game next Sunday.
Al said he would give me $30 to go downtown with Amy, so I guess that's taken care of, but that is cutting himself short for gas until he gets paid. He also said that when he gets paid on Friday, I can go get my nails and waxing done, so that is that. He's going to get my shampoo and conditioner, too.
I'm still upset though, because it's the principal of the thing. I wasn't expecting to pay what I had to pay and I don't think I'm very happy with my hair. Yes, it's just hair and it'll grow out and grow back, but what a pain in the ass. I'm stuck with what I've got until that happens.
I'll get over this eventually, but it's funny because a great haircut can make you feel like a million bucks, but a lousy haircut can ruin your entire day.
When I got home, Al, intead of working in the house like he was supposed to be doing, was sleeping on the loveseat. He gave me some bullshit excuse about someone banging on the door at 10:30 this morning and waking him up, looking for a donation. Still, that's no excuse for sleeping until 1:30 in the afternoon.
Then he actually has the audacity to tell me he wanted to take me to bed for a while before he starts working in the house. What part of "I'm having a bad day and am in a bad mood" did he miss? I'm in no humor to give in to his sexual whims right now.
At any rate, that's how my day has begun. I can only hope it gets better and not worse. |
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