Iwas not a reader at all, not until I discovered 'The Hobbit.'

“I was not a reader at all, not until I discovered ‘The Hobbit.’ That changed my life. It gave me the courage to read. It led me to the ‘Lord of the Rings’ series. And once I’d read that, I knew I could read anything because I had just read thousands of pages.” Thus spoke Richard Paul Evans, the storyteller whose own journey from indifference to inspiration mirrors the transformation that books can awaken within the human soul. In these words lies a simple yet profound truth — that the spark of courage may be lit by something as humble as a story, and that one moment of discovery can open the mind to the infinite.

Evans, now celebrated as the author of The Christmas Box and many other works, was once a boy untouched by the magic of books. But when he opened The Hobbit — that tale of an unassuming hero who leaves his quiet home in pursuit of wonder and meaning — something stirred within him. It was as though he, too, had heard the call of adventure. Reading, which had once seemed a burden, became a voyage. And like Bilbo Baggins, he found that the journey changed him forever. “It gave me the courage to read,” he says — and those words hold more power than they first appear to. For to read deeply is to dare: to enter new worlds, to confront great questions, and to expand one’s own being.

This revelation is not Evans’ alone. In every age, those who have awakened to the power of words describe a similar rebirth. The ancients called this transformation illumination, for it is the moment when ignorance gives way to light. Just as the philosopher Socrates spoke of turning the soul’s eye from darkness to the sun, Evans speaks of finding his way out of indifference into a new landscape of imagination. What The Hobbit offered him was not merely entertainment, but initiation — the discovery that reading could be an adventure greater than any other. For each book is a gate, and every reader who passes through it steps closer to the boundless world of thought.

In a sense, Evans’ story mirrors the journey of Bilbo Baggins himself. Bilbo began small and uncertain, doubting his strength and place in the larger world. Yet when he answered the call to adventure, he found within himself the courage and wisdom he had never imagined he possessed. So too did Evans. By reading those pages, he proved to himself that he could undertake a vast journey of the mind and complete it. When he says, “I knew I could read anything because I had just read thousands of pages,” he is not merely describing a triumph of skill — he is proclaiming the birth of confidence. From one act of courage grew a lifelong love for learning, and from that love, a calling as a writer who would one day inspire millions of others.

The deeper wisdom of this quote lies in its revelation that courage is the seed of all growth. Whether in reading, in art, or in life, the hardest step is always the first. The door to greatness often looks small, and it is fear that keeps most from entering. Evans’ discovery teaches that courage need not be grand or loud; it can begin quietly, in the turning of a single page. From there, it gathers strength. Like a spark becoming flame, it lights the path forward. The courage to read becomes the courage to dream, and the courage to dream becomes the courage to live.

Think, for example, of Helen Keller, who, though blind and deaf, learned to read through touch and perseverance. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan, opened for her the same kind of gate that The Hobbit opened for Evans — a doorway to the world of knowledge and imagination. For Keller, as for Evans, reading became liberation, proof that limitations are illusions of the mind. Their stories remind us that the ability to read — and to believe in oneself — is not a privilege, but a triumph of the spirit.

Thus, the lesson is clear: seek your own Hobbit. Find the work, the passion, the calling that awakens your courage to begin. Whether it is a book, a craft, a journey, or an act of kindness — let it lead you beyond the boundaries of what you thought you could do. Do not wait for confidence to come before you start; confidence is born in the doing. Every great endeavor begins as Evans’ did — with uncertainty, with fear, and then with one decisive act of faith.

And so, remember these words of Richard Paul Evans as a sacred truth for all seekers of purpose: “Being courageous in small things prepares you for great things.” For once you have crossed your own threshold of doubt — once you have read your own thousand pages, whether in books or in life — you will know, as he did, that you are capable of anything. Then, like all who have dared before you, you will walk forward with joy, knowing that your own story has finally begun.