Our Silent Teachers

Every day I sit in the presence of my silent teachers. They never speak a word out loud, but they are accessible any time I need them. Often I call on them when I have a question, and they help me find the answer I need. Some of my silent teachers are famous, although many of them are relatively unknown. Some of them are people I can pick up the phone and call, while others died centuries ago.

Who are these silent teachers? The authors of my books. Anytime I want, I can pull a

book off the shelf and sit quietly under the tutelage of a great instructor. I can be challenged by the creative imagination of C. S. Lewis, stretched by the leadership insights of Jim Collins, or brought back to reality by the humorous observations of Erma Bombeck.

Books are a blessing we tend to overlook. When is the last time you thanked God for the ability to read? Did you ever thank your parents and teachers who taught you to read when you were a child?

Recently I’ve been watching my grandchildren learn to read. As they turn the pages and sound out words, they are learning a skill that will bless them for a lifetime. I hope they adopt the philosophy Groucho Marx expressed when he said, “I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book.”

On a mission trip to East Africa, I took along a handful of Bible study books and gave them as gifts to local church leaders. It wasn’t a big deal to me, but it was to them, because these brothers and sisters don’t have many of the basic resources we tend to take for granted. When I handed them a book written by a Christian author, they received it as if I were handing them a brick of gold.

Where libraries are plentiful and information abounds through the Internet, it’s like being a student with an unlimited faculty of scholars, historians, novelists, poets, philosophers, and sports writers available whenever we want. As Americans we are blessed to live in a land where free speech and a free press allow for an open exchange of ideas, and as Bible-believing Christians we are blessed with a message that is intellectually compelling and spiritually satisfying.

“A book,” said Henry Ward Beecher, “is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.”

Solomon wearily observed in Ecclesiastes 12:12, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body”—but of course, Solomon wrote those words in a book!

Mark Twain was right when he said, “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” He also wryly cautioned, “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.”

I agree with William Gladstone: “Books are delightful society. If you go into a room and find it full of books—even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome.”

Our silent teachers invite us to sit down and reason with them for awhile. They speak to us from printed pages and laptop screens, stirring our minds and shaping our lives. Garrison Keillor is right: “A book is a gift you can open again and again.”