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Sunday, April 16, 2023
Once upon a time, many years ago, I had a friend who perplexed me with two of her choices: 1) She said she never re-read a book, and 2) She only bought hardcover volumes.
We were both living on student budgets so I was puzzled why she would shun the less expensive paperback option, especially if she was only going to read her purchases once. But the bigger mystery remained – why only once? She seemed to love reading. Hadn’t she ever met books she enjoyed enough to revisit, and savor again?
Since I relish re-reading, I was delighted to listen to the podcast: “Why Re-Reading is Possibly the Best Reading” by Sarah Mackenzie, creator of the popular Read-Aloud-Revival podcast series.*
She enumerates five rewards of re-reading. The first is that books become lifelong companions.
“If we want books to become our children’s lifelong companions, then they need to spend some quality time with those characters and those stories. They do that by re-reading.”
The last reward she mentions is that “It’s a whole different book because you’re a whole different person . . . . We bring our life experiences into our reading.”
As I listened I thought how true her rewards were for reading The Book:
Regarding Reward #1:The Bible has become my lifelong companion, not because I bought a hardcover copy and read it once and have it on my shelf – but because I re-read it, over and over.
And for Reward #5, when I re-read my Bible, its words are the same but my life keeps changing, so I bring my current reality to my re-reading and find it speaks to me freshly.
I could easily see how these two rewards are true, but it was Reward #4 that intrigued me the most. Mackenzie describes it as “Reading past the plot.” She describes it like this:
“The first time we read through a book, most of us are reading for plot. Our brains want to know the answer to the question, “What happens next?” It’s just how we’re wired. On the second, third, or 30th reading of a book, however, our brain is free to ask deeper, more layered questions.”
I wondered if that applied to my Bible reading, too, and concluded that it does.
We have just read and sung our way through another Easter season, when we focus more intently on our Salvation Story. I could have said, “Well, I’ve read the story before – think I’ll skip it this year.”
But I didn’t. I re-read the parts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that describe Jesus at the Last Supper, Gethsemane, the betrayal, the denial, the trials, the cross, the burial, the Resurrection (the un-burial!), and the ascension.
I re-read slowly, mulling it all over. I already knew the plot. My mind was free to think more deeply than “What comes next?” (I even mulled over what it meant to mull something over, and found definitions such as “to ponder,” “to think carefully about something,” and “to reflect deeply on a subject.” Mulling is probably a more humble word for meditating.)
I’m so glad I took another look at The Book. My mind and heart were rewarded with fresh thoughts and a deeper appreciation for my Saviour as I mulled over all that He chose to go through, all for love of me and you.
And our re-reading and mulling has a huge help that Mackenzie didn’t mention: at our invitation, the Holy Spirit accompanies us as we walk through Bible passages one more time, bringing fresh insights and helping us remember what we re-read.
As we step into this brand-new week, may you enjoy the rewards of re-reading, especially of God’s Book.