what i'd really like to do with all my books

i love books. there are jokes about women shopping too much or having too many clothes – such jokes always made me roll my eyes – shopping is something i tolerate about once every six months (and generally only with someone whose taste i like and who enjoys shopping). but get me into a bookstore, especially a discount one, and... let's just say i've come to realize that i ought not to enter into a bookstore if i'm not able to spend at least $20 on books.

i like reading books. and i've read more than half of the books i own (at least parts of them). and i like having them there on my shelves to pull out when i want to make a point and/or want to lend them out to somebody i know would really appreciate this author or that book. the problem is that with moving around a lot (and a lot of time with only a couple of suitcases with me), my books tend not to come along. my book collection in Amsterdam is increasing with each flight, but there are still a significant number of books just sitting in boxes in my parents' closet. and they're doing what books often due, but ought not to: just taking up space.

so i pulled them out and have started the process of cataloguing them. and in that process have been asking what to do with all these books. some of have come out to my shelf in my room, so my mom can reference them as she's leading her Coffee Break Bible study (so these are commentary and Bible background books, some Bible studies, and some apologetics books). some are going with me back to Amsterdam (mostly Biblical stuff), and the rest were doomed to return to boxes until i get an office some day :)

and then, i visited friends of mine who have started a community in Hamilton. they have a library. and then i realized that what i'd really like to do with my books is to let them live there for awhile – or a long time perhaps. it would give me great joy to share them. i'd really like for my books is that they get to be on shelves (in some kind of community) where lots of different people will pull them off to look at them, make them a bit more worn, enjoy them, and be challenged by them. and that is bigger than i think i was able to imagine when i got many of them, reminding me again that God is full of surprises :)