The Harry Potter books surprise me. A friend took a picture of his eight year old son holding and reading one of the Potter books and it looked gigantic. I mean, Alice in Wonderland, little meets big, gigantic.
Just scanning the size of the book tired me out, maybe I’m the only one left who hasn’t read one, but seriously, it’s big. What a way to begin a child on a weight lifting career.
I’m not knocking my friend because it’s a happened in our home too. Seeing the large books gobbled up by her friends, my oldest longed to explore something bigger than herself. Her heart moved toward The Chronicles of Narnia, which as planning would have it, happens to be in a single-bound copy available at Barnes and Noble.
The Chronicles include seven different books written by the amazing C.S. Lewis. When she carts it around in her backpack and pulls it out at recess, I’m floored. It’s just so huge.
The same thought crosses our minds when we see people with a Bible in hand. It’s overwhelming in its capacity. It contains 66 books, granted some are very small. There’s much to grasp on a single page.
If we long to know something more, be part of something bigger, the book does beckon. Yet we find ourselves stuck. Organizational people complain about the Bible because the order isn’t chronological. Story people consider it boring because of seemingly useless details like how many cattle crossed the Red Sea. But there it sits on our shelf, staring at us, almost tauntingly.
We have a choice. Become overwhelmed by the moment, tell ourselves it isn’t possible, or dream of consuming and comprehending it.
I had a teacher in college who liked to say, “How do you eat an elephant?” She’d continue, “One bite at a time.”
There it sits, the elephant on our shelves. Will we imagine it stepping on us and destroying our home or decide to open it and chow down? However we start, one bite is one bite.
The Bible’s literary history rests unsurpassed by any other written work. It’s story and details offer to help us understand the God of the Universe, how He thinks, what He wants, and what we can learn from Him. Huge or not, it’s worth opening.
What’s the toughest part of Bible reading for you?
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