Sitting in the Library

One of the challenges in starting a church is not having my own office. Most of the time I work in the RV but today I needed to come to Decatur and ended up in the public library. I feel at home here. At times I look up from my work and stare at all the bookshelves lined with books. It makes my heart skip a beat. I feel a mixture of elation and sadness. Elation because I love reading and love books. The sadness comes because I know I cannot read all the books on all the shelves. I cannot tell you how this pains my soul.

It makes me miss my old friends in the books of my personal library that are still out in West Texas awaiting the move. I am seldom far from a book. I keep one with me most places I go. I try to keep one with me in the car and when I am alone. I cannot get enough reading. Lately most of my reading is done late at night and it never fails I fall asleep in the middle of a page.

I am excited that the library is hosting a book sell today. I have found some really good bargains here in the past. I can’t wait to finish my work and to begin shopping and browsing. I cannot understand why everyone does not enjoy reading. I guess others would say how come everyone does not enjoy mechanical work. I detest it.

Getting lost in a good book is a great day for me. I am not into the new technology of books on computer. I am old fashioned. I want to hold the book, underline and make notations in the margins, dialogue with the author as I wrestle with each thought. I want to smell the pages, see the books lined on my bookshelves, and enjoy the feel of each page. I have said it before and I say it again. I am a hopeless book-a-holic. I cannot get enough.

So on this day let me urge each of you to find a good book and to read it. Maybe you only manage to read one book for the year but make it one that you enjoy. My favorite books are biographies and autobiographies. I inherited this from my maternal grandmother. She kept a book in the kitchen while she cooked. I seldom saw her without a book in her hand. She did not care for television but read.

Oops. My perfect day at the library just got interrupted by a children’s story time and sing a long. I have to cut this short to find some treasure books to take back to the RV. God, thank you for authors and for books.