More Than Words on a Page

I have a thing for books. I always have; reading, writing, touching, smelling, and holding them. I can remember a picture taken of me in our backyard when I was about ten. I am sitting on an orange plastic chair with a blue one in front of me for my feet; red, white and blue dress, big knee socks, hair in disarray in front of my face and a book resting on my knees that are pulled up to my chest. A moment captured in time as I barely glanced up at the camera as my mom snapped the picture through our sliding glass door from our dining room. Whatever my mom saw in that moment meant enough to her that she wanted to capture it and put with other pictures that had gone through her heart.

I love used books. I love to flip through the worn pages and see where people have written in the margins or highlighted a particular sentence…or paragraph; to get into the mind of the person that held the book before me and see what they were touched by enough to highlight for future reference or simply to put pen to paper as a reminder of something that touched them in some way, like the picture mom took over thirty years ago.

I moved a lot in my early years as an adult. That meant packing up boxes of books to move from one set of bookshelves in one house, to another… in one case just moving up the road on the same block. I couldn’t get rid of Brides’ magazines or textbooks, but instead moved them with others that had already been read. In the midst of these books was also a bible. I don’t even remember where the bible came from but it was a soft cover Women’s Devotional Bible that had some great stories written by women interspersed between the scriptures. I never opened the bridal magazines that went back to 1993 or the textbooks that were probably out of date. I never opened the bible either but it always found its way to a spot on my bookshelf.

A lot of things have changed for me in the past two years; A LOT. But my love for books has not faded. In fact I have more now than I ever had. I moved last February and I hope it will be the last move for a while. I am happy to report that I finally got tired of lugging the heavy bridal magazines and even offloaded some of the textbooks that I was sure wouldn’t provide insight in the near future. But when I moved this time, the bible had a place of prominence and wasn’t just another book to fill a hole on a shelf.

I have tried to read the bible before and always thought I had to start at the beginning. THAT is not the case. I have been a Christian for just over a year and still have MUCH to learn, but now, I am open to learning it. I was happy to discover that the bible is a book; a very important history book; MY history book. Each time I open it, I have 66 different books all rolled into one that I can go to for guidance, wisdom, proof, stories, lessons, and history. It amazes me that a book that was written by so many different authors so long ago can have the relevance it does today. Much like reading a book or watching a movie now and seeing ourselves in the characters…we can do the same while reading it. I saw myself in Luke 15 “The Prodigal Son” and again in Matthew 18 “The Lost Sheep.” Did you know that God welcomes you back with open arms despite the path we chose or how long we chose it? Did you know that He cares more about the one sheep that came back than the ninety-nine that had never left?

I have been led by many in my 42 years and am not proud to say that for many of them, I was led in the wrong direction by people that aren’t even in my life anymore. In the past two years I have been blessed beyond measure by God, my family, my husband, my friends and my church. I still follow but now I know I am on the right path because it is Jesus that leads me. And I feel right at home with the one book that matters; my bible. 

Billy Graham once said that “The Bible is God’s “love letter” to us, telling us not only that He loves us, but showing us what He has done to demonstrate His love. It also tells us how we should live because God knows what is best for us and He wants us to experience it. Never forget: The Bible is God’s Word, given to us so we can know and follow Him. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)”

Wow….and to think that I just schlepped that bible from one shelf to another for a decade of moves from state to state and house to house; not realizing what waited for me on the pages between.

I am not only led by Jesus; I am inspired by Him and all those that He puts into my path. I have an amazing husband, renewed relationships with my parents and daughters, newfound friendships with Christian women, and a great church that wasn’t in my path until He moved us across the street from it….an hour from home and everything we knew.

Yes…. I have a thing for books and even though I continue to look for old books with handwriting in the margins and highlighting on the pages, I do a bit of highlighting of my own throughout the 66 books that have become my favorites.