READING: More than preparing for exam
Whenever I tell any of my friends that though I had a stressful day but I needed to study before going to bed, I would be asked if I had a quiz the next morning then my sincere answer would be no. The next question I would be asked would be the reason for troubling myself so far I didn’t have any test or examination at hand. Though, the dictionary defines reading as the process of interpreting a written text. However it would be wrong to interpret it to preparing for a test or an examination alone. Reading should be part of ones daily life.
As food is to our body so also are good books to the mind. It is often said that a person is the same after ten years except for the books he reads and the friends he keeps. This tells us how important reading is to anyone who wants to be relevant in this ever revolving world. This is due to the fact that information needed to turn the world around is embedded in books and to only those that will unleash them through reading. I would like to tell us that we have books that are detrimental to the soul which must be avoided.
Daniel in chapter twelve of his book told us how he knew that it was the appointed time for the deliverance of the people of God. This tells us that if he did not read those books at that time, the deliverance that God had prepared for his people would have been delayed. So also till today, books have opened men up from bondages in their minds. Reading of books opens ones eyes to see opportunities and to seize them as it is said that blind minds are worse than blind eyes. Books help us to connect with great minds that have gone ahead of us, to see the way they have acted in situations we are passing through that they also have passed through, so there is a need to connect with them through reading. Also reading has benefits to us which are not but limited to increasing ones reasoning and thinking capacity about concepts and situations, increasing ones vocabulary, helping to ease the stress of day to day activities, preventing cognitive decline with age and even health wise by helping to maintain a normal blood pressure.
At this juncture, I would like to say that anyone who wants to rise above the ordinary has to read books because readers are leaders. Pick up a book to read today.
