'Read the right books at the right time’ is one of what I call my ‘life prayers’. How do I decide what is a right book? And when or what is a right time? Is ‘right’ just a subjective feeling, something I like or find interesting? Or does it have a moral or ethical dimension? A worthy or noble subject. Could there be the right book but the wrong time? I think it can be a mixture of all these things.

One person’s enthusiasm for a book or author may not match mine. It underlines the fact that reading ‘the right books at the right time’ is highly personal. There is also much to be said for reading books that I normally would not read. Even authors I profoundly disagree with. I have never belonged to book reading groups but can see the value of them in expanding your reading beyond the comfortable.

Maybe a more up to date goal would be ‘take on board the right media at the right time’. Not only books and magazine articles. I am surrounded by a huge variety of radio and TV programmes, videos and podcasts. There are also the more ‘in person’ experiences of a lecture, concert or piece of art. Not to mention the all pervasive social media. Yet with this abundance of information and culture I still have the same amount of time as my forefathers. To take in the right thing at the right time seems vital to avoid drowning in a sea of information. Quality surely rather than quantity. Over consumption of media and information affects my frazzled mind as much as over eating does my stomache. Our age is not the first to experience this…

“Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body”.

Ecclesiastes 12 verse 12b

What I read, watch and listen to is not always my choice. Computers  feed me a programmed diet of what Facebook, other social media and streaming platforms want me to see. Their subtle algorithms are designed to get and hold my attention and curiosity. ‘Eyeball time’ as the marketing gurus rather crudely call it. However over indulging can dull me from thinking for myself. There is something to be said for the old fashioned way of browsing. Physically roaming the shelves of a real bookstore. 

All that said a balanced diet of food for the mind is a good thing. I have often been blessed hearing, reading or watching something. Like a friend with timely counsel. It may not be a whole book. Maybe just a chapter, a magazine article, a poem or a quote. The right need met at the appropriate time. Perhaps knowledge of someone that inspires me. Maybe understanding something that takes away confusion or distress. Recently I listened to a live musician masterfully play the accordion. The beautiful, sweet and yet mournful sound made the heart sing. Music, like pictures, can be worth a thousand words.

I have framed this aspiration as a ‘life prayer’. That is to say God is able to and wants to give me wisdom. The way, the truth and the life. Surely a present worth seeking.

** elisabethgrantart.com