Mission Moment

Dear Covenant Families,

I remember it like it was yesterday. Sitting on the fuzzy blue rug in my 3rd grade classroom, 15 children holding a collective breath, Mrs. Brown gently swaying in her wooden rocking chair, reading aloud to our class.

“At that moment they heard from behind them a loud noise—a great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giant’s plate.... The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.”

I thought to myself, “The stone table broke in two?! Aslan is gone? Where did He go? What will happen to Narnia?” I was completely mesmerized, pulled into Narnia along with Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. The soft creak of the rocking chair continued as Mrs. Brown read the next section of the chapter. We children let out our collective breath, and my heart swelled with joy.

“Who’s done it?” cried Susan. “What does it mean? Is it more magic?”

“Yes!” said a great voice behind their backs. “It is more magic.” They looked around. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane…stood Aslan himself.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis

The truth of this story - the sibling rivalry and squabbles, the allure of something as delicious as Turkish Delight, the fear of evil lurking in the shadows, the hope for good to prevail, and the relief the children felt when they realized there was someone strong and good and endlessly powerful fighting for them and with them - resonated deep within my eight year old soul.

As our sinful souls awaken to God calling us to Himself, we begin to notice the differences between good and bad, true and false, beautiful and ugly in this world. This is why it is so important for us to provide rich, living books for our children. The goal of our mission is that our children learn how to discern, reason, and defend truth. So, we need to present them with stories that demonstrate how others have come up against darkness, confusion and lies and have fought for the truth with courage. Just like Mrs. Brown, we can and should give our children the experience of good, true, and beautiful books - from Explorers through senior year.

The world is constantly presenting our children with overtly counterfeit stories and what I call “almost” stories - stories that fall short of the truth and appeal to satisfaction in the moment. They provide easy laughs, hollow plots, one dimensional anti-heroes, and reliance on self. Stories that we feel “almost” okay about our children consuming. We do not want to settle for counterfeit or “almost” stories.

The wonderful news is that children are drawn to goodness, truth, and beauty. They are enchanted by stories that feed the soul. Stories that give words to the human conditions of sin and frailty. Stories that offer God’s truth, hope, grace, mercy, and love. Stories that are winsome and joyful. Stories that are “living.”

If we continually lay out for them a feast of good, true, and beautiful books, they will develop a taste for the rich and adventurous reading life.

After spring break, we have two events that will help you foster your child’s love of reading good, true, and beautiful books.

1. Project Standfast, March 20 At this evening event, we will learn more about how great books feed our families’ imaginations from Jessica Hooten Wilson.
2. The Covenant Book Fair, March 24-26 At our annual Book Fair, you will encounter a great feast of good, true, and beautiful stories for the whole family.

In the meantime, these two documents may be helpful if you desire to learn more about the attributes of good, true and beautiful books and engaging your child with reading.

What a joy it is for me to guide students and families to delicious tales to devour during family read aloud time or to books for students to enjoy independently. Please reach out if I can help. It is an honor to partner with you as we grow your children’s love of reading.

Non Nobis,

Meredith Covington
Librarian