By Annalissa Cochran
I admit it. I am biased. J.R.R. Tolkien made his mark on me when I was 12 and captured my heart and imagination in tandem. Reading “The Hobbit” for the first time is a memory that never seems to grow dull. I was smitten then, and I’m smitten now every time I read it or “The Lord of the Rings.”
I have often wondered what it would be like to go on a walk with Tolkien. I imagine we wouldn’t get very far — stopping to look at every overturned leaf and stone, or how the bark of each tree has a story. Tolkien was an expert marveller. So much so that after reading his books, it’s impossible to look at trees, mountains, or rivers the same way.
Tolkien’s stories guided me by the hand through childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood, always pointing me to a bigger and more important truth.
The longer I’ve been a parent, the more I’ve wondered, “How can we expect children to enjoy and pursue reading The Bible – the greatest story ever told, that also happens to be true – if they never develop an interest in stories?” What a delight to hear a child exclaim, “Just one more page, please!” That eager anticipation of what comes next is invaluable.
When we practice mining the riches of stories as children, going back time and again to those books that help us make sense of the world, it cultivates the habit of doing so later in scripture.
“If you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.” – Proverbs 2:3-5.
In order to instill in our children the love of reading scripture, we need to instill the love of reading first. I know of no better way than giving them good books. Good literature is fertile ground for fostering hope in an ever-changing world. It is a steady anchor marked by dog-eared pages, no matter the age and stage.
And children really do have a capacity for meatier literature. They’re not as naive as we think. G.K. Chesterton stated in an essay concerning stories, “The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”
Certainly, a myriad of learning and processing disabilities place readers on different levels. However, we can read to our children before they are ready to read the story themselves. They may have the ability to take in stories that ask questions like, “Who am I? Why am I here? Is there a God? If so, who is He? How do I know Him?”
We must see the value in good stories. Words matter. Stories are weighty because the God of the universe speaks to us through His story – His holy and inerrant Word.
Annalissa Cochran and her husband, Roberdeau, live in Flowood, where they are raising their two sons. Annalissa enjoys reading, writing, history, travel, and pancake Saturdays.