I’d almost forgotten phonics. It’s been a long time since I’ve sounded out words in pieces in order to read them. But last week I was reminded when a dear friend’s son read aloud to me from a beginner’s story book. I don’t recall the name of the book, or truthfully, even the contents of the story. Those things weren’t the point. The point was the first grader leaning over the book in my lap and word by word, stringing the sounds together so that one day, stories would make sense.

It was a beautiful struggle – and a fine beginning.

I’d almost forgotten that I learned “catch” by finding a hard “k” sound, following it with an “eh,” and then a “ch.” And that a word like “weighs” is a lot harder than “ways” to figure out.

But I remembered the satisfaction of a hard sentence completed and a new page turned. And of how good it felt to hear my teacher say “that’s right – good job!”

I’m light years past phonics in the reading department. As I look around at the books that surround me floor-to-ceiling, it sobers me to think how long reading would take (and how utterly unsatisfying it would be) if I still relied on phonics to complete each book.

But I haven’t entirely put the tool away.

I revisit grade school often in my faith. When I’m faced with a new and perplexing situation, I remember a particular combination of truths or events from the past, and I sound out the right response.

When I’m frightened by a challenging circumstance, I pull up from memory words I’ve come to know by heart that speak directly to it.

When I don’t know where to go or what to do, I search for patterns from the past, and turn the dog-eared pages of my primer/storybook to find direction. And it’s there.

So now you have the truth. I’m still hooked on phonics. But I’m looking forward – so forward! – to the day when what I sometimes still must sound out haltingly will become completely fluent. When I can put the book away and find every answer in the face of my good Teacher. When the story – and not just pieces of it – will make perfect sense, and every struggle, large or small, will be more than worth the effort.

Keep reading. Keep sounding out the words. The Teacher is listening, and He delights to hear your progress, and mine.

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (I Corinthians 13:9-12, NIV)

©Leigh McLeroy 2004