During this last week of January many Scots people go out of their way to remember Rabbie Burns, the 18th century Ayrshire poet, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall. His life and his old Scots poems are remembered fondly on his birthday, withBurns’ competitions in schools and Burns’ Suppers in the evenings giving him and his poems publicity once again. There are hundreds of them - my favourite is “The Cottar’s Saturday Night”, and from “To a Mouse” I often quote “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”.
Other famous writers from previous centuries are of course worth reading and remembering, such as William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Sir Walter Scott for example. Some contemporary authors are also widely read, according to people’s choice. But what you read and how it affects you is important, whether fiction or history, poetry or prose.
It's also important to remember that authors write for many different reasons. Some write to entertain and amuse, others to educate, inform and inspire, while others may write to deceive, mislead and spoil. So it is wise to choose your reading carefully!
The book I enjoy reading most is actually the world’s best seller. More than 100 million in many languages are printed every year, with over nine billion in the world today. It is a book with a serious message for everyone everywhere, and the reason it was written is given on one of its pages: “These things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20.31).
Many people have found this to be true, so they read the Bible, enjoy it, and guide their lives by it.
What about you?
Written by a Guest Blogger
All photos courtesy of Unsplash
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