I recently finished reading a small book called, “Practicing the Presence of God.” This book is less than a 100 pages and one I read back in college. It is a charming little book that I found meaningful the second time around as much as the first. As I closed the book up, I was torn between picking up another book, or flipping that same book back up and starting it again.
I decided to chew on it for a day or so. Later that same day, I sat rotting my brain on social media and came across a snippet from Eric Thomas, The Hip Hop Preacher. He talked about how he doesn’t care how many different things you know. He was talking about how people read 100 different self-help books and have all this knowledge but it doesn’t mean anything. He talked about how he would rather have someone who has read one book 100 times. He would rather have someone to know one thing inside and out, upside and down. That message hit me deep.
I got to thinking about my experience reading PtPoG. See, I’m not the best reader and this book was written a long time ago. I found that when there was a whole paragraph that consisted of two sentences and 13 semi-colons that I was not able to retain it all. My mind would wonder and then I would have to read the same paragraph again and again to try and grasp it. I realized that this is why reading a book a second time hits us differently. We don’t always retain everything on the first read through. Also, we live our lives and gain new experiences which enlighten us more every year. That enlightenment opens up the messages from these books that are not available to a college kid.
As I sat considered what book to read, I picked my little book up and started it again. I figured if there is something that I should know inside out, forward and backward it is the practice of the presence of God. I don’t need to know a hundred different self-help practices. I need to learn from the experience of a man who has lived successfully what I want to achieve. I need to read this book until there are no more gaps in my understanding. I need to read this book until I know everything inside of it. I need to read this book again and again and again.
Is there a book you read over and over?
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