If you came to visit my office, you’d see my walls are lined with bookshelves. Twelve in all—six ceiling-to-floor shelves and another six half that height. Plenty of room for all my books, right? Yeah, that’d be nice. I still have box upon box of books, all awaiting the day they can come out and play. Trouble is, I’m out of room for bookshelves. So I find myself faced with the painful duty of culling. I’ve done this difficult task probably 10 times since we moved here 8 Thanksgivings ago, and still the boxes aren’t empty.
What can I say? I love books. Always have. The feel of one in my hands, the smooth pages under my fingers, the welcoming typeface that works magic and brings worlds to life…worlds that sometimes are more real to me than the one I actually live in. Worlds peopled with characters and creatures that have become threads in the fabric of who I am.
Books are, quite simply, a miracle.
What but a miracle could let me once again be a child, sitting at my mother’s side? Could let me know, as well as I know my hometown, locations around the world and beyond? Could bring peace in the midst of turmoil, laughter in the face of dread, acceptance in the stead of anger. What but a miracle could share words that ring so true they live on years after I’ve read them? Words that make me see, make me smile, make me surrender and change…
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
“I am what I am. I would tell you what you want to know if I could, for you have been kind to me. But I am a cat, and no cat anywhere ever gave anyone a straight answer.”
“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”
“If you have no faith in yourself, then have faith in the things you call truth. You know what must be done. You may not have courage or trust or understanding or the will to do it, but you know what must be done. You can’t turn back. There is now answer behind you. You fear what you cannot name. So look at it and find a name for it. Turn your face forward and learn. Do what must be done.
“Is it not unsupportable to be held down to a canter when you long to gallop for miles?”
Do some of these words live in you as well? What words, thoughts, and ideas have books planted within you? What words still live on, coming out to play at the wisest, most opportune moment?
This Advent season, I want to invite you on an exploration with me. Advent is a season of hope and celebration. A season to ponder in your heart Immanuel: God with us! To ponder the many ways God has met you. So over the next few weeks, I’ll invite you in to my office for a visit. Because I have some friends there I’d like you to meet. The friends who shared the words above…and others.
So until next week, blessings upon each and every one of you!
“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”
Beautiful words. All of us have felt the need to know someone is there, that we are not alone.
I am so thankful I have Christ in my life, that I never am alone. I pray everyone has that reassurance.
I, too, was most moved by the piglet’s sentiment. The words of so many books I have read have fortified me during even the hardest times. They endure in my mind, keeping me company, seeing the true me even when I am blinded. Thanks, Karen, for this post to remind me what I owe to the authors, literally, my life.
I will be there. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us! I gasped at that first line. I used it often when I was a counselor, and needed some means to show the character of God. I just love the feel of the words, “But He’s good.” (capital H mine). It always washes peace over me.
At this time of year, when A Christmas Carol will be shown repeatedly on TV, I am always reminded of this quote by the ghost Marley, that our purpose here is about service to others, with whatever gifts we’ve been given.
“Business!” cried the Ghost [of Marley], wringing his hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
God bless us everyone!
“We and the world, my children, will always be at war.
Retreat is impossible. Arm yourselves.”
Leif Enger, Peace Like a River
I love the magic of words. They speak truth to my heart when nothing else makes sense.
I love C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, which speak so much truth about Jesus:
“And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken [his name] everyone felt quite different…. At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in its inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.”
I’m always amazed at how quickly books can bring us close to each other. Meet a new neighbor, someone you really don’t know, but find out you both love the same book, and you’ll be talking for hours. Can’t wait to hear what you have, Karen.
Oh, Karen, your office sounds beautiful. Perhaps a bit cluttered, but still beautiful because nothing could be more lovely than books. My home is full of them, and so is my mind.
I look forward to the visits to your office! One of my favorite quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh:
“Christopher Robbin?”
“Yes, Pooh?”
“I’ll never not remember you.”
I have that in my office at home along with a copy of an etching of Pooh and Christopher Robbin walking together.
Words matter. Our Lord chose words by which to communicate with us, and therefore, we love words because we were created in His image.
Blessings!
Ruth
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
I can’t read these words with composure. My soul whispers ‘yes.’
from Kenneth Graham’s WIND IN THE WILLOWS:
This is the place of my son-dream, the place the music played to me,” whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. “Here, in this holy place, here if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!”
Then suddenly the mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror—indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy—but it was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that some august Presence was very, very near….
Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that…the call and summons seemed still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, and raised his humble head; and then…he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper….
“Rat!” he found breath to whisper, shaking. “Are you afraid?”
“Afraid?” murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. “Afraid! of Him? O, never, never! And yet—and yet—O, Mole, I am afraid!”
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.”
There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him….Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is…because in the last analysis, all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
By Frederick Buechner’s Listening to Your Life
Karen, what an awesome post. I love the idea that books like to come out for their turn to play. I have 6 floor to ceiling bookshelves in my home library and some of those books have yet to have their turn. You’ve inspired me! Can’t wait for your follow-up posts about your advent adventure.
Oh, my! You’ve all given me shivers this morning! LOVED reading the words that have taken up residence in your hearts. Thank you for blessing me this morning.
Thanks for sharing this, Karen. Love, love, love your quotes in this post and all the quotes folks shared in the comments! These are some of my favorites. I’ll add this . . .
“PIPPIN: I didn’t think it would end this way.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
PIPPIN: What? Gandalf? See what?
GANDALF: White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
PIPPIN: Well, that isn’t so bad.
GANDALF: No. No, it isn’t.”
Thank you for this quote… 8 years ago, LOTR:ROTK was due to premiere in theaters. I had tickets for 10 glorious hours of LOTR back to back to back showings of the entire trilogy. Didn’t get to use that ticket — my mom passed away the week before the premiere, and instead of being in Georgia for the showing, I was in Ohio saying goodbye to her.
The day after her funeral, I was in a movie theater in a small Ohio town, watching Gandalf & Pippin have that very conversation.
As I sat there weeping, I thanked God that He meets us where we are, even in rural movie theaters, and gives us His comfort.
Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment:
“He was so weary after a month of concentrated wretchedness and gloomy excitement…”
These words haunt me when I find myself wallowing in self-pity, and encourage me to LIVE life.
Oh, Karen, what a gift. Here’s mine from The Last Battle, C. S. Lewis:
“There was a real railway accident,’ said Aslan softly. ‘Your mother and father and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”
Waiting for the holidays. . .
In a frame on my desk, I have Christoper Robins message to Pooh It reads:
Promise me You’ll always Rememeber:
Your’e Braver than you Believe
And STRONGER than you seem
And SMARTER Than you think.
I love your office Karen. As a recipient of some of those book cullings, I love all your boxes too. 🙂
“That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive–all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”
“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”
~The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
…and I thought I had a lot of books!
The most apt description of my husband comes from Georgette Heyer:
“…he hasn’t the love of humanity that inspires philanthropists, you know. Towards all but the very few people he loves I fear he will always be largely indifferent. However, for those few there’s nothing he won’t do…” (Sylvester)
When you’ve moved 17 times as we have~it’s easy to cull~~tho ya keep remembering and wishing for them back. I’ve even been known to see one I got rid of in a thrift store and been so happy to buy it again–arrrgh! And then have to get rid of it, again. In my whole life I’ve only lived in a condo once for almost 10 years–that was special. Oh well!
I don’t have a quote from the book that made the most impact on my life because I read it as a child mumble mumble years ago. I’m not even sure of the title. It may have been Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare, or it could have been Indian Captive by Lois Lenski.
How can I say it was an important book in my life and not remember it? Because it wasn’t the title, but the words that became my shield during a time when I badly needed a buffer from the world. Here’s what I remember… the main character captive is crying behind the wigwam when a young girl approaches. During their conversation, the young Indian girl says allowing someone to see you cry is giving them power over you. Even at my young age, I realized the truth in that statement. In the story, the captive considers that and decides no one will ever see her cry again. I can’t say I never cried again (just send me a rejection and watch the flow) but for years, I wrapped those wise words around me and let hurtful ones bounce off.
Karen, I’m looking forward to reading/seeing more of your workplace in the coming weeks.
Anita Mae.
I needed this encouragement today. What beautiful words you’ve shared. A reminder of all that lives in me through literature.
Here are some words that speak often to me even years after reading the book Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers.
“Love with strength and purpose and passion and no matter what comes against you. Don’t weaken. Stand against the darkness, and love. That’s the way back into Eden. That’s the way back to life.”
But the love of literature and mysteries of the pen and adventures I can never forget, I owe to C.S. Lewis and Frank Peretti and Anne Shirley and Huck Finn and, and, and…
I was just about to cull, now I don’t wanna! 😉
The one drawback to the house I bought 4 years ago is not enough room for bookshelves. Most of my 1000+ volume library is in boxes in the garage. I really need to remedy that