The Little Blue Book

I never thought that this little blue book would change my perspectives and even my life…

I was a non-practicing Catholic who grew up going to church every Sunday and attended a small-town French school. My whole life changed that one day during a daily walk outside.

I’m an avid reader, and often, I would stop by local “Take a Book, Leave a Book” bird-like houses in my neighborhood. On a beautiful spring day, with crystal-clear blue skies, I decided to take a different route during my lunch hour walk to one of the “Take a Book, Leave a Book” houses, which I had not visited in a while. I arrived at the house and opened the little rectangular door.

To my surprise, I saw a cute, baby-blue Precious Moments children’s Bible. I grabbed it out of curiosity, seeing it was so cute, and noticed that it was brand new and might never even have been opened. My first thought was: “Oh my, someone might have received this as a gift for their newborn son and, instead of keeping it, decided to give it away.” I was sad to see that the first pages had no information entered about the birth of the child. I guess there could have been several reasons that this beautiful Bible found its way to the little wooden box. Nonetheless, I decided to grab it. I thought, 'I know very little about the Bible, and maybe I should start reading this children’s Bible.'

The First Move

Upon arriving home, I took the Bible upstairs and placed it on my bookshelf along with all my other books. Two weeks later, one morning, something drew me to the bookshelf as I walked past it. I decided to grab it and see if I could actually start reading this Bible. The pages were so thin and delicate that I was worried about ripping a page. Regardless, I opened the little Bible and began reading the first Book of Genesis.

I’m not quite sure what it was, but I was instantly drawn by the information that I was reading. After I had read the first page of the Book of Genesis, I perused the pages of the blue Bible and noticed in the back pages a section about “How to Read the Bible in a Year.” This was great as I loved following a schedule and told myself this would be my starting point. It even included Scriptures to be read in the morning from the Old Testament and Scriptures to be read in the evening from the New Testament. I decided to do both in the morning. As a gentle reminder to begin my day with intention, I placed the Precious Moments Bible on the coffee table, where I'd see it first thing in the morning.

I started reading both passages from the Old Testament and the New Testament each morning and have not stopped since that very first day. The feeling I received from reading these passages in the silent mornings was indescribable like someone was watching over me and smiling, happy to have reached another one of his children to become a follower. I’ve ingrained this reading habit so profoundly that when I travel, I now bring my Bible with me to allow me to continue my morning routine. Without reading my morning passages, I feel my day cannot begin.

What started out as a challenge to read these Scriptures grew into a beautiful awakening of my Catholic faith. About three months after having started my morning reading routine, I decided to overcome my fear of attending our local Catholic Church alone. I was scared to be a “somewhat” newcomer.

After attending the first Sunday Mass, I went again the following week and the following, and have not missed church attendance since. In instances where I was not located near a church, I would watch live Mass on my YouTube app on my iPhone. I became addicted to learning more about the Catholic faith and what it meant to fear God. I have since acquired many books, magazines, and other forms of information, such as religious podcasts, to help me continue learning more about Jesus’ life.

I’m currently at a crossroads in my life and seriously considering taking my career experience in the corporate world towards a career helping others and sharing God’s gospel. I used to numb myself with movies and social media when life was challenging, but now I turn to God, pray, and read Scriptures to help me get through difficult periods in my life.

The discovery of that Precious Moments Bible in plain sight made me see the greatness that my life could become with God in my life. Jesus is my co-pilot and my rock. I know He will never leave my side.