Create Your Own Library

I developed my love for books years ago when I began teaching. Since that time I have collected hundreds of books. Through the years as I have collected books I have accumulated my own library consisting of 12 bookcases located in different areas of the house. 

A personal library is an excellent place to find rest, meditate, to rejuvenate mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Some of us like to find answers to life by themselves, others like myself like to have someone go along with me; someone who has walked the same route, walked in my shoes, experienced the same hurts, faced the same questions, wrestled with the same issues. 

My library is a place to:

• v Be comforted as I read testimonies of others who have felt grief, tears and pain.
• v Hear the voice of God as I read different versions of the Bible, allowing me to develop a deeper relationship with the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost)
• v Strengthen my family relationships and become the mother, wife, sister, and daughter that God intended me to be.
• v Distinguish the difference between my belief system and customs; how to be a Christian without being “religious,” how to study the Bible, and who’s who in the Bible
• v Broadens my prospective of living in community (family, friends, church, etc.).
• v Learn through the autobiographies and biographies of others their successes so that I might be encouraged to take risk when opportunities arise, and that even with some risk failures happen. There are lessons in both.
• v Escape to a different place? It helps sometime just to get into the lives of others and forget the stress of our own lives. 
• v Experience laughter and the lighter side of life. “Laughter is good for the soul.” 
• v Find answers to the hard questions in life.
• v Strengthen my grip on life as I seek to explore the disciplines of my Christian faith (prayer, forgiveness, service, hospitality, service, suffering, etc).
• v Finding solutions for daily life. (cooking, gardening, sewing, scrapbooking, etc.) 
• v Browse for a quick devotion or poem to share at a meeting or to include in a card to encourage a friend. 

If you do not have a personal library, even 1-5 books, I encourage you to find a way to create your own library. Individuals have told me, I do not like reading. I encouraged them to look for books about things that interest them. Share your ideas with me about creating a reading/writing nook.