This month we started reading Og Mandino’s Scroll 3. At first I was apprehensive about reading Scroll 3.

I had come to love and appreciate Scroll 2. Scroll 2 felt like an old friend I could trust and confide in. It had gotten me through 2 hospital stays in 9 days. Saying, “I greet today with love in my heart” was like a wish and a prayer. I wasn’t ready to abandon my friend.

I read Scroll 3 and I immediately gravitated to it. In the first paragraph I could see the bulls charging at the picador. I could see the picador’s red and gold cape swirling out of the bull’s way. I could hear the picador shout, “Toro!”

In the second paragraph, I could hear the sheep bleating and the lion roaring. In my mind I could see Shaun the sheep, Shirley, Timmy, and the other sheep outdoors waiting for the farmer and Bitzer the sheepdog.

To make the reading more fun for me, I would bleat like the sheep and roar like a lion.

When I read about the mighty oak being chopped by the mighty axe, I would pretend I was chopping the oak tree.

My hubby saw me swinging my imaginary axe and thought I was crazy. “What are you doing?”

“My reading’s about chopping down a mighty oak tree. I’m chopping down the tree like you do in Minecraft and Fortnite!”

Once the mighty oak was down I started cheering, “I did it! Woo hoo!”

After I read about the rain drop washing away the mountain, Subby immediately created a huge rain drop that fell from the sky, splattered on the mountain, and sent the mountain sliding down into the ocean.

When I read “I will remove from my vocabulary such words and phrases as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, out of the question, improbable, failure, unworkable, hopelessness, and retreat; for they are the words of fools” (Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World, page 65) I took my pen and pretended to write each word on a slip of paper. Then I proceeded to crumple up the paper and tossed it into the garbage.

I read “For now I know one of the greatest principles of success; if I persist long enough I will win” (Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World, page 67) and immediately the song, “We are the Champions” started playing in my head!

I thought pretending to pluck and eat the grapes of wisdom from Scroll1 was fun. I thought forming my hands into a heart and placing it over my heart was also fun when I read Scroll 2. However, the imagery from Scroll 3 makes it so easy to be enthusiastic about reading Scroll 3!

So what have I learned from Scroll 3? The imagery brings out the creativity in my Subby, and if I persist in reaching my goals, I will succeed. Woo hoo!