Books can represent signposts on my spiritual journey. I
recently went over our bookshelves because they overflowed with books. They got
to that point on account of the generosity of others who wanted to pass on
books that we might like to read. I didn’t want the bookshelves to look so
messy so I began a purge. I first asked God to show me which books I no longer
needed so that I could bless other people.
There were books that had been significant at a particular
stage in my spiritual journey. They had assisted me in attaining emotional and
spiritual healing after a devastating event that changed the course of my life
on many levels. I knew that certain wounds were no longer open and festering,
but had healed over and were now scars. I had recently heard a teaching or read
something that said we should be thankful for our scars because they mean we
have been healed. I could definitely see that on a physical level because of
the scar from my hysterectomy surgery when I had Ovarian Cancer. I thought
again how Jesus retained the scars from His crucifixion after His resurrection.
Scars were nothing to be ashamed of but rather to be celebrated as having made
it!
The outward way that I purposely left behind the books I no
longer needed was by donating them to the local thrift store. One of the books
was a German textbook that I had from when I took a night course on
conversational German before I was married over 35 years ago. I think that book
and the releasing of it represented another aspect of me knowing who I am as an
individual. I often held on to things, books included, because one day I might
need it. God has, through the years, shown me how He provides the things I need
and I can trust Him to show me what I can leave behind.
(This was written in response to a prompt for my writers'group to write "about what got left behind on purpose")
