Reading is important...

I love to read.  Not just love like I love my husband, love as in I find it as necessary as breathing.  I love to breathe.  Heck, I do it all the time, I even do it in my sleep!  I need to read, I crave reading a good book.  When I go too long without reading a good book, I find myself often uninterested in the things I love to do normally.  Then I just sit there and become slightly depressed and think about all of my favorite hobbies and remember that it's been a while since I have read something that has shook my earth.

That's how much I love to read.

Recently, based on a friend's recommendation, I read The Shack.  I had attempted to start it a few weeks prior but it just sat on my coffee table on my side of the couch because I couldn't quite get into it.  I have that problem sometimes.  She said how wonderful it was, so I started it yesterday.  I read a bit while I was at work, then I read a little more last night before bed.  I read some at the doctor's this morning, then I read in the driveway for a bit when I got home.  I wasn't reading a lot of pages, just what I could squeeze in in between getting ready for work and crap. About one or two pages.  I was consumed with it.  I kept staring at it on my way to work, looking all lonely over in the passenger seat.

Then I got to work and found out that I didn't have to work!  Hooray! So I came back home, planted myself on the couch with my children and engaged myself in a love affair with words.   I cried.  And cried.  And cried some more.  It was so incredibly and beautifully written.  I cried tears of sadness, I cried tears of happiness, I even cried some tears for forgiveness.   I think all in all, it took me less than five hours to read. Then again, I read super fast anyways...but I loved it so much, I couldn't put it down.

By the time Zach got home my face was all swollen and he was worried something bad had happened....that's how much I cried.

I enjoyed it immensely.  It made me ponder my existence and my own relationship with religion.  I'm not a very religious person and I do believe in something, I'm just not sure what exactly.  But, what I do know is that it was so incredibly refreshing to read something that had heart and that gave me some insight and reflection into my own soul.

You need to read this book.  I cannot explain what it's about because it's kind of like trying to explain why your favorite song is your favorite.  Most of the time, you don't have the words, you just say "Just listen."  This is me telling you to "Just read it."

Xoxo
Riley Writes

P.S.  I apologize for the lack of writing as usual.  I will try to be better.  I'm working on an entry where the correct wording eludes me....I will work harder! :)