Read this, you fortunate person!

Gliceria Ferreira da Silva of Sao Paulo, Brazil was said to be 125 years old. When reporters interviewed her, they asked, “If you had your long life to live over again, what would you do differently?”

“I would learn to read,” she answered.

Just think of spending 125 years on this earth unable to read! Even if you’re not much of a reader, you still would feel you had missed out on a very important privilege if you were unable to read the newspaper, directions, road signs, letters.

You might say that that may be true of people in some countries, but in a land like ours everyone has that privilege.

No, not everyone. Years ago, I met two people who could not read. One was blind. The other was the 34-year-old mother of four children. What longing I detected in her voice when she admitted, “I can’t read, and oh, how I wish I could, so that I could read the Bible!” Her problem was easily solved. I called the local superintendent of adult education, and a woman was sent out to teach her to read.

Another person’s problem was not so easily solved. Furman had been an invalid in a wheelchair for 45 years, a hydrocephalic with enlarged head and twisted body. He loved the Lord. One day when I visited him in the hospital, he said, “Mrs. Larson, all day those boys in the ward have been reading comic books. Tell me, why are they able to read and not I? If I could read, I would not waste my time on comic books! I would read God’s Word.”

I don’t know whether Furman could have learned to read. When I knew him, there was no adult education program, nor had I time to teach him myself. The best I could do was read him a portion of God’s Word when I visited – and he was so grateful! Furman has gone to be with the Lord, but his words have stayed with me – reminding me of what a precious privilege it is to be able to read God’s Word, as well as other Christian literature.

Thomas Dreier wrote: “When any man tells you he has no time for reading, you can be sure he is committing mental suicide. He makes no more sense than the man who says, ‘I do not have time to eat.’ ” Likewise, the Christian who says he has no time to read God’s Word may be committing spiritual suicide.

The psalmist wrote, “How sweet are Your promises to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I get understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:103–105).

Muriel Larson is a writer from Greenville, S.C.