The Reading life
A place for the books that linger- and the thoughts that quietly awaken.
Becoming a Reader
I prayed for years to become a reader.
I get asked often, “How do you find time to study and read all these books?” This is something I prayed about for a long time. I longed to be a reader. I loved books, story, and study—but for some reason I could not bring myself to sit down and do it.
Switching our homeschool to the philosophy of Charlotte Mason changed everything. I suddenly saw how many books my son and I would read through our lessons, and I had to be the one to read them aloud to him. In many ways, I learned how to read properly alongside my son in our homeschool. It truly felt like an answered prayer.
After three years of working on this habit together—the habit of attention—I can now read and study with focus. I wake up before everyone else and spend every quiet moment I can reading. One rule I keep is protecting my mornings and nights from distraction, especially the phone.
So I sit with the birds singing, reading, writing, and studying until my son wakes. This morning I was recording a bit of that quiet rhythm—and yes, three loads of laundry were going at the same time.
I have one child who is ten, but even so, this habit took three years of prayer and practice to form. My husband loves it. My son loves it. And I love it too.
Becoming a reader has changed my soul, my mind, and my character. Since becoming a reader, I feel like I can truly think again—and it is incredibly freeing.
I’ve begun tracking my time and often find that I can spend nearly two hours reading and studying in the morning, as long as the phone stays away. Seek out the time-suckers in your life, and you may discover that you have far more time to read than you thought.
Your stewardship within your family, your home, and your relationships is never a distraction. But the things outside of that—especially screens—can either serve you or quietly steal your time.
You do have time to read. And you can still faithfully steward all that God has given you. Because time is not truly ours.
It is His.
And both our stewardship—and our reading—belong to Him.
By Nancy Brici April 20, 2026
