I have been a voracious reader all of my life and the older I get, the more I love to open a book and let it take me where it wants me to go. I like the way Henry Ward Beecher, a fellow preacher, put it: "A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors."
Reading a spiritual book brings to bloom the good seeds within me; it expands my vision like an orchard that is full of life; it fills up my storehouse with ideas, ideals, and new spiritual practices; it often is the best party around with large reserves of joy and celebration; it offers an infinite variety of companions on the spiritual path; and, last but not least, it introduces me to new spiritual teachers (living and dead) who lift my spirit up and send me on my way rejoicing.