How Tom Sawyer Impacted My Life

Yes, you read that right: Tom Sawyer has had a definite impact on my life. 

Let me explain.

Before I went to college, I read alot. It was primarily fiction, and romance fiction at that. Nonetheless, I was reading.

However, when I got to college and had to read hundreds and hundreds of pages for homework, by the time I graduated, I had lost the joy of reading simply for the sake of reading. 

Years passed, and I can probably count on my fingers how many books I read between 2012 and 2018. Any reading I did during those years was only the result of much diligence and intentionality, for even romance fiction, with all of its allure, had lost its appeal. I simply could not get back into reading. 

Until I met Tom Sawyer through the masterful pen of Mark Twain.

Last summer, my husband picked up The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and would read it to himself each night before going to sleep; he would then frequently burst out laughing at Tom's ridiculous antics. Several times, I convinced him to tell me what was so funny. He would proceed to read out loud the particular dilemma Tom had gotten himself into.

We would then laugh about it together.  

After a handful of such situations, I decided that maybe I should just read the book for myself instead of waiting for Isaac to read it to me. 

So I picked up the book and started reading about that bright sunny day when Tom went out to whitewash that fence. 

Somewhere along the way, as Tom got into one escapade after another, something happened in my brain: whether it was while Tom and Huck were poking around in that old abandoned house, or when Tom and two of his friends staged their own deaths, or when Tom's scheme to convince the Sunday School Superintendent that he had indeed won the memory verse competition backfired, I don't know.

All I know is that a switch must have literally flipped in my brain, for all of a sudden my brain was telling my heart that reading is fun and I can't get enough of it!

Reading about Tom Sawyer helped me to realize anew that reading can, in fact, be a source of joy and delight to the soul. (Granted, the actual book about Tom Sawyer was packed with nothing but a boy's imagination gone wild, with very little actual spiritual edification and learning happening. In fact, you do not want to get your theology from Tom, for he is a rather confused little fellow when it comes the subject of God, Christianity, and religion in general. But that's besides the point.)

Rather, my point is that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer gave me the desire to read again. Having a desire again to read has been huge--I didn't know what I was missing! Picking up reading again has opened up a floodgate of opportunities for learning and growth, particularly in my walk with the Lord. Here are just a few ways reading has impacted my thinking:

Reading has helped expand my view of the world around me.

It has helped me grow in my love for God and my relationship with Him.

It has helped me think more critically (read discerningly) about theology and what I believe about God.

It has helped broaden my horizons concerning personal tastes and interests.

It has made me more interested in history, particularly obscure, but significant, events.

It has cultivated a desire to learn from the examples of others.

It has helped me improve my writing as I observe how others write.

And as a stay-at-home mom who would love to do more school but who doesn't think that will ever happen, reading has become a form of self-teaching/learning.

Deciding to do Tim Challies' 2019 Reading Challenge this year has forced me to read more broadly than I might naturally read, causing me to cross paths with books such as the true story behind HeLa Cells (it's a fascinating story!), The Bruised Reed (a puritan book first published in 1630), a devotional-like commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Girl, Wash Your Face (a NY Times Bestseller filled with terrible theology). Each one of these stretched me in my thinking in a unique way and I am super thankful!

The more I read, the more I am convinced that reading is a habit that is beneficial to anyone who willing to take the time to cultivate it, for reading creates an opportunity for continual growth in all areas of life, but especially spiritually. Nurturing the habit of reading has persuaded me that there is much to gain from reading something longer than inspirational tweets, quotable Facebook statuses, or even blog posts like this one!

And that, my friends, is how the wild adventures of a boy named Tom Sawyer made a considerable contribution to my life.