On Reading 52 books In a Year
Celebrating the grace of small beginnings...
Before I get into this post, I want to clarify something: I’m aiming to celebrate God’s grace towards me in helping me grow over the past few years in the act of reading. I see reading as a stewardship that needs to be cultivated in my life, and it’s a stewardship I’ve spent much of my life neglecting. The goal here is not to draw attention to how many books I’ve read - I have friends who have read significantly more than me this year. The goal is to testify to the grace of small beginnings.
A few years ago, I was in a weekly church staff meeting and the senior pastor presented to us a compelling article he’d come across that cast a vision to read 52 books in a year. There was a part of me that was intrigued by this, and a part of me that considered it laughable. How on earth was I ever going to find the time to read a book a week?
But I was inspired and gave it my first go, using the Goodreads annual challenge as fuel for the fire. I finished the year with 24 books. That was 2022.
Last year, I came across Tim Challies’/Visual Theology’s Reading Challenge, which presented a wide variety of categories to check off. “A book by a female author.” “A book written by a Puritan.” “A book on Christian living.” Etc. It was more fuel for the fire. I ended 2023 with 49 books. I was, somehow, in spitting distance of 52 books in a year.
This year, one of the first books I read was Doug Wilson’s Ploductivity. I have some bones to pick with Doug Wilson (you can read about some of that here if you’re interested), but the book was spot on: there is incredible power in small, consistent acts of faithfulness. Plodding away faithfully is far more powerful than attempting to summon the willpower for sprints of massive but fleeting effort.
Today, with 39 days and 10 hours to spare (according to Goodreads), I wrapped up my 52nd book for 2024. A book a week. What seemed impossible several years ago is now achieved with more than a month left on the clock. How?
Small, consistent efforts of faithfulness. It’s making the decision over and over again to not turn on the phone or the TV the second the kids are in bed, but instead picking up a book for 15-20 minutes. It’s starting the day with a few minutes of reading rather than scrolling. It all adds up - page after page.
This wisdom, of course, was already in God’s Word:
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man. - Proverbs 6:6–11 (NIV)
How does an ant store up its provision? One little piece of food at a time. Bit by bit. But consistently. The ant, day in and day out throughout the summer, makes the wise decision to be faithful with the little it can carry in that day. It models for us what it looks like to embrace small acts of faithfulness. “Ploductivity,” as Wilson would call it.
If you read 15 pages one day, take a break for two weeks, then read another 15 pages, break again…well, you’re not going to get very far. But if you read 15 pages a day for 340 days (not even the full year), you’ll read 5100 pages. If your average book is 250 pages, that’s 20 books. By just reading 15 pages a day and allowing for life causing occasional interruptions.
So if you desire or have the conviction to be a reader but can’t seem to gain any momentum, let me encourage you to start small. Pick one 15 minute window a day and stick to it. Don’t worry about how many pages you’re getting through - just commit to that small window of time and focus on building consistency. Once that habit is built, add another 10-15 minute window. The pages (and the books) will start to add up as you chip away, slowly but faithfully. And if you’re reading good books, you’ll be growing in wisdom as you do.
Pick up a book. Start small. Be faithful. Grow in wisdom.
Happy reading, friends.
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” - Zechariah 4:10 (NLT)
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Wow!
Do read multiple books at once? Or just go straight through one at a time?
My man