With Book Week coming to an end and as we put the finishing touches on our parade costumes, let’s look at how magical reading can be. As you know our theme for this year’s Book Week is ‘reading is magical’ and growing up to me it certainly was. I could travel without ever leaving me room, imagine I was assisting a knight battling a dragon to save the one he l loves. I listened to an amazing story of how a family turned a giant boat into the first ever ‘floating zoo’. And the best one of all, about how a precious baby boy born centuries ago, grew to be a savior, to be a man who challenged the thoughts and ideals of a broken world, to encouraged them to be humble, to think of others and show what a life lead by God can look like. That is a story that has been with me ever since I was told it by my grandma.

Every time I stayed over at grandmas, each night I would hear a new story from the Bible. She had these awesome blue bible books and with each chapter I saw how God was empowering amazing men and women to show the might and love of our creator. It made me want to be just like them.

I loved being read to, I could lie in my cozy warm bed and listen and imagine I was there too.

A study was conducted in Victoria about how reading each night to your children can significantly affect their learning. “Reading to children at age 4-5 every day has a significant positive effect on their reading skills and cognitive skills later in life.” It showed children that were read to about 3-5 times a week had the reading age of someone 6 months older than them. And children that were read to 6-7 times a week showed their reading age to be of someone 12 months older.

I really appreciated the time my family took to read to me as I can see now how it helped me to grow not only in my reading ability and knowledge but with my faith. Spending time reading God’s word soaking up the lessons and wisdom each story held has nurtured my faith in God.

Reading is amazing, but it can be much much more. Reading the Bible together as a family is a beautiful way to connect with one another and with God. May your time together be filled with joy, inspiration and a deeper understanding of His love.

 

Blessings,