Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Theodor Seuss Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss, is probably my all time favorite children's author. His books are fun, uplifting, and educational (from a reading teacher's perspective). Dr. Seuss' books are just plain good. Tonight, as I was browsing Barnes & Noble's website, after purchasing the book on marriage Hunter suggested, I decided to add to my Seuss library. (One can never own too many Seuss books.) I came across a book that I had forgotten all about: Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? At first I thought, "Aww. It's not that big of a deal. I can explain to Addison and Dossett (my grandchildren) that we're not really lucky, we are blessed." But would I?  Every time?
If I have to explain every time I read it, why should I buy it? 

Isn't that how we have become desensitised to "innocent enough" stuff that takes our eyes and minds off our sovereign God, from Whom every good gift comes? Not too far away from Him, but away, nonetheless. We exchange words like "blessed" for "luck". Instead of sincerely thanking God, we "thank heavens!" with an insincere wave of our hand. At least I do.

I don't mean to over-spiritualize a child's book whose author's goal is to instill gratitude in the hearts of his readers. It just made me start thinking... and Oh, The Thinks You Can Think! (another book by, you guessed it, Dr. Seuss). So, I rest my case. Theodor wrote some great books for us. Even the ones that aren't so great spur us to think about the One Who is. We just don't have to buy those.

No comments:

Post a Comment