“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Colossians 3:16
“What did David do next, Mommy?” asked my three-year-old, tugging on my skirt while I was busy with housework.
“MOMMY, what did David do next?” he asked again, tugging a little harder.
I sighed. It’s one thing to read a story and quite another to tell it and get all the details just right. I realized I needed to become more familiar with the historical books of the Old Testament if I were going to be able to answer the questions my three-year-old Bible-story lover brought me. With five children and a house to keep, I wasn’t able to spend much time in Bible study. I found that if I kept my Bible open on the kitchen counter and read a bit whenever I could snatch an unoccupied minute or two, I not only added to my knowledge of Old Testament history, but the Lord also graciously refreshed my soul with choice little nuggets every once in a while. And so it became my habit to leave my Bible open in the kitchen. So what if it got a splash of cake batter or a dab of oatmeal on it? We need food for our souls as well as our bodies.
At our 50th wedding anniversary, as all our family sat around the campfire, that little son, now grown up with a family of his own, stood up and told us what had made him become interested in reading God’s Word. He said that his mother had always kept her Bible open on the kitchen counter, and he had often watched her take a peek at it. If she found it that interesting day after day and year after year, he realized there must be something special about that Book, and he wanted to find out what it was. Now that’s mutual encouragement!