One of the best things you can do for your personal development is this:  READ!

So few people do it, which is exactly why you should. While others wade in the same waters of common knowledge, you can explore new islands of ideas.

Several years ago, I began creating an annual reading plan based on my goals. My aim wasn’t to break a reading record, but to read intentionally from a variety of genres that helped stretch me, inspire me, and prepare me. This is one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Creating a reading plan feels like you are mapping your future, because, well, you are.

Here are some questions to help guide you in crafting your reading plan:

What do I want my story to be this time next year?
At the risk of sounding cliché, if your life is a story, you have an amazing opportunity to fill the pages. Setting goals is simply being intentional with your life. There are many things in life we can’t control, but we are responsible for the parts we do.

What’s keeping me from attaining it?
Every good story has big hurdles to overcome and yours should be no different. Otherwise, you should dream bigger. Is it understanding you lack? Do you need a shot of motivation? Is fear getting in the way? It’s important to identify this because it will help determine the right weapons (books) to slay your dragon.

Who has been on a similar journey?
Wise people use what’s already been discovered and build on it. Unfortunately, most people (like me) tend to learn the hard way and feel the need to (cliché alert) reinvent the wheel. But if we get over ourselves and use the wheel that’s already there, we can start to do new things with it.

What books did they read? What books did they write? What resources did they create?
This is where you finally compile a list of books. From there, you can create categories to place them under. Not everything in life fits neatly in a box, but it helps to organize your thoughts and search for books. If you don’t know where to start, ask others, browse websites, and read reviews. I always leave a little wiggle room for the books that pop up during the year that catch my eye, but for the most part, I know what I’m reading.

Once you have your list together, all that’s left to do is read.

From the J.R.R. Tolkien classic, The Return of the King:

“But Sam lay back, and started with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last has gasped: “Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”

“A great shadow has departed,” said Gandalf, and then he laughed and the sound was like music, or water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. But he himself burst into tears. Then as sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up, and laughing he sprang from his bed.

“How do I feel?” he cried. “Well I don’t know how to say it. I feel, I feel” – he waved his arms in the air – “I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!”’

“Behold, I am making all things new.” – Jesus (Revelation 21:5)

For years, evangelical leaders proclaimed that Christians shouldn’t read Harry Potter or watch the movies. Lest his superpowers provoke our children to become witches and wizards. (Curiously, the moralists aren’t outraged by the magic in Chronicles of Narnia or the powers of Superman.)

The real issue is a lack of imagination. The ring in Lord of the Rings isn’t really about the ring. The Veggies in VeggieTales isn’t really about the vegetables. The magic in Harry Potter isn’t really about the magic.

It’s art.

Art (and stories) often use symbolism and metaphor to communicate something else. This is what makes the fantasy and superhero genre so popular. People enjoy searching for meaning. And there’s plenty of it in Harry Potter.

That said, I’m not going to say yes or no to Harry Potter. I’m not a moralist. I’m a Christian. I would say go with your conscience.

I do believe God is a big God and that every story, intentional or not, is wrapped up in his story. We just need the eyes to see it.

Besides, the real danger of Mr. Potter doesn’t lie in his magic.

It lies in his influence on culture through fashion:

The dark-rimmed glasses.

Its obvious there’s a grand conspiracy and no one is safe.

Especially the hipsters.

This atrocity must stop.

For the sake of the children.