Books, books, and more books....

 

Do you love books? Gosh, I do. I love reading. Now, I know some of you are "kindle" kind of people, but that is not who I am. I love to have the book in my hand, to smell it, to feel the pages, to experience it...

When I was younger, I absolutely did not like nor appreciate reading. The first book that changed my life, was Biblical Womanhood in the Home by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I read this book just after my husband and I moved back from Austin, Texas. We were not living a great life during that time while we were in Texas, maybe more to come on that later....

That book was pivotal in my life - it changed it for the good. Do you remember the first book that you read that changed your life?

I have this relationship with books...yes, my husband knows. 😏 I am constantly finding books and placing them on my wish list via Amazon...and then go try to find them in a BOOKSTORE. Yes, you heard it right folks, a bookstore. When was the last time you were in a bookstore? They are few and far between, but I love them. I will tell you my all-time favorite bookstore is found at Rosemary Beach, Florida. It is called The Hidden Lantern (cool name, eh?) Such a neat bookstore. Small, but quaint. 

I will buy books that I necessarily don't intend to read right away, but when I am in the mood, I will pick it up. If I am not ready for it, I put it down. Eventually, I will read it, but I have to be ready for it. That is the relationship that I am talking about. 

I recently finished a book called Just F*cking Do It by Noor Hibbert. Loved that book. It had gumption and expletives, which sometimes, you just need someone to give it you "Johnny Real"...I need that in my life. No sugar coating, just tell me! I kinda live by that standard anyway, so it seems appropriate for me to love books where an author gives it to me straight. 

I am currently reading Change Your Paradigm, Change Your Life by Bob Proctor. I have read a lot of self-help books over the years, but this is simple and yet incredibly enlightening. 

There is a story in chapter 1, Your Awesome Power to Change where Bob states that his first real book he ever read was Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. This little excerpt of this chapter hit me hard...read on...

Bob knew of a friend named Pat. She was a well-educated person who loved books. "She asked him, "What are you reading?" He said, "Think and Grow Rich." She saw him again and asked him the same question...."What are you reading?" He stated, "Think and Grow Rich." She would then ask him several more times this same question, and his answer would remain the same. One day, she asked him, "Are you still reading?" Bob answer, "Yes." She asked, "What are you reading?" He said, "Think and Grow Rich." She said, "Gee, you were in that last time I saw you." Bob stated, "Yeah, I am still reading it." Apparently, Bob had read that book for a very long time. It was required in order to change the paradigm. Pat thought this was weird behavior. She'd read a book and then go on to another one. She was very educated and yet, she did not know herself. She was a maintenance person, and she and her husband had nothing. They never got anywhere. They never accomplished anything in their lives. They Just Got By. God's highest form of creation, and they just got by."

I must say, when I read those words, I had tears in my eyes. I don't want to go through this life and just get by...do you? 

This is why I love books. The impact that some of them have on my life, it's powerful. Now, not all books hit me hard like that. Some books are just for fun...

For example, I am leaving for Florida in a couple of weeks, and I am bringing a book. I know, big surprise...That book is called Beach Read by Emily Henry. Seems appropriate, right? 

Wherever you are in your life, if you like books, if you like to read, maybe you don't like to read, I get it...but NEVER STOP LEARNING! 

NEVER STOP GROWING...truly I feel if you stop learning or feel like you have arrived, life would be so mundane. 

I will leave you with a quote from a book that I am also reading, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (who also wrote Eat, Pray, Love).

"The hunt to uncover those jewels (capacities, aspirations, longings inside of you) that is CREATIVE LIVING. The courage to go on that hunt in the first place, that is what separates a mundane existence for a more enchanted one. The often-surprising results of that hunt is what I call, Big Magic. Creative living is not necessarily about the arts, it is living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear."

So, do I have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within me? 

Do you?

XOXO,

Claudine