Readers of the Soul

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.                                                                                                 ~James Bryce

Do any of you feel like you cannot put a finished book on the shelves before you share parts of it? It's like an inner fire that refuses to go out until someone else responds with the same awe I have. 

I've shared my gleanings with friends who looked at me with glazed eyes and said, That's good, sounds interesting or I'll have to read that, and you know they have no idea how profound and soul-lifting or heart-wrenching the book was. It takes a lover of truth to understand.

Soul readers get excited.  Eyes sparkle -- there's that hesitation when you know they are ingesting the words deep into their soul, and, like yourself, will be changed by the thought. And then with a satisfying sigh we'll settle in, words handed back and forth and sometimes jumbled together, new truth discovered and held with awe for the other's inspection.  

Soul readers ingest more than one book at a time.  I have a Kindle and love it.  But there are still books I am reading all around me.  I'm always pulling a few old friends off the shelves, buying one that's not yet on Kindle, borrowing one from a friend. On any given day I may be hungry for different truth and will pick up one and then another to glean my manna for the day.  

It's hearing, Mom, this is a book you'll love and Momma, listen to this. It's reading, Auntie, I thought of you when I read this.  It's a mother listening to my excitement and a sister calling to share a book she's reading.  It's heart sisters who reach for the words I've read across the miles and treasure them.  It's blog friends sharing comfy old friends they have read over and over, and new ones with spines unbroken and free of margin scribbles.  

Even more than man's books, it's leather covers opened on holy ground. Prophets and apostles of old writing down words inspired by our Heavenly Father.  Words written hundreds of years ago, yet words that still burn in our hearts today. I ams and thou shalts mingled together with miracles and warnings and beautiful songs.   

If, as James Bryce says, the worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it, then we know the worth of this book is the one to treasure above all others. Reading books about the Bible will never take the place of these inspired words.  Words that we hide in our heart, that cause us to rejoice in the laws as much as riches and which help us to walk in holiness.  

Embossed Hebrew names of God cascade down the cover of my Bible, and as I glance up from my computer to view the Book,  I'm reminded how much I love sitting across from Him, discussing new truth, rejoicing in truth learned in times past and feeling my heart swell with the beauty of the words.  I think God loves hearing, Listen to what I read, because He settles in to share my joy.

Soli Deo Gloria

Work in Progress

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