Wednesday, March 3, 2010

lead sentence

In writing, the first sentence of each paragraph is always the most important sentence, or at least considered the 'lead' sentence. The fact that I never consider this to be the case may say something about me I guess.

I am ALWAYS drawn to the inside of a paragraph more than the beginning. I found the most profound, most memorable information hidden deep within the text. Always.

Now...this could be because it takes me a while to get focused whenever I begin most anything. Or it could be that writers hide goodies deep within a text just waiting for someone to discover what abides there. Either way - I never only read the first sentence and I am almost always glad that I read more. Kind of reminds me of God's Word...so many 'devotions' just take a verse or two and offer suggested readings - I think this robs us of the rich discovery waiting if it is studied in context. I have been very convicted of this lately - skimming - just squelching the nagging guilt of no study at all. I really do want the meat of the Word and that takes work - no 'just reading the first sentences'.

Are you a skimmer, or are you willing to do the work?

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