2011 Reading Challenge~Why I Failed This Week and Why It's All Right

Yep, you read that correctly: I didn't get my book read this week. It was less than 100 pages and I didn't get a third of the way through. Here's why:

1) After church Sunday, we immediately headed south to visit Girl Out of the House and That Boy. I did manage to read a few pages in the car, but mostly I read Three Men in a Boat aloud or we listened to Connie Willis's Doomsday Book. We had a great time and stayed until Wednesday morning. Once there, I hardly cracked my book. I'll share more details and some pictures soon. . . I hope!

2) This being Holy Week and all, there was a lot more church-going, which for us means four extra hours in the car per service, and half of that is in the dark, which makes it harder to read. (Man of the House is interim pastor for two churches two hours away.) So with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services in the evenings, the days were short, especially since I was trying to catch up from being gone (which I haven't yet).

3) Girl of the House is under the weather, and someone has to do her chores. That would be me. ;-)

Now you know why I didn't finish On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius. I picked it largely because it was short*, but apparently even that was too much for me this week. Oh, well. I'll get to it another week, and besides, I'm still a book ahead of schedule, so I can afford this minor lapse.

So are family relationships, ministry, and focusing on the Passion of our Lord good enough reasons not to have met my goal this week? I think so.


*I also chose it to fit my plan to read theological and/or devotional books during Lent. On the Incarnation is good stuff, and I definitely want to get back to it. Now that Lent is over, however, I am ready for something lighter, though I will sprinkle my reading with theological/devotional books throughout the remainder of the year.