Books...

Books are keys to wisdom's treasure;

Books are gates to lands of pleasure;

Books are paths that upward lead;

Books are friends. Come, let us read.                                  - Emilie Poulsson

One of the pleasant problems that faces us as we think about moving... is what to do with our books.  We have 3 steel racks full of them.  And others are hiding in cupboards.  The National Geographics are already in boxes under the bed.

Oh blessed surfeit of books.  I am well past the point where I can say that I have read all of them.  But even knowing that they are there, unread, is a pleasure.

The younger generation is split cleanly into two parts.  Asha and Enoch are one part.  They have a well-founded complaint. "We don't have any books."   Translation:  We have read all of our books - many of them multiple times - and we are hungry for new ones.   One of the best things about going to Shanti Kunj for them is the library.

Yohan is the second part.  As I write this, Sheba is teaching him to read.  I can hear him struggling through words - reading syllables aloud - getting explanations for what the words mean and what their context are.  Sometimes in English, sometimes in Hindi.

How sad to have so many books around him and to have him unable - yet - to pick up a volume, flop onto a bed and read to his heart's content.

But we believe the day is coming.

Meanwhile, Sheba continues to devour books - perhaps making up for the lost time of all those years of med school and preparation for it?

As for me - I am reading a biography about a biographer - Geraldine Taylor - the daugther-in-law of Hudson Taylor and author along with her husband (though it was mainly her) of Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret and The Triumph of John and Betty Stam. 

As it the trend these days, Sheba read it before me.  What a life of devotion.  What a challenge.  And what a gift to be able to read about lives from the past ... through the blessed pages of a book.

Hooray for books!

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P.s. Emilie Poulsson, who wrote the small poem that starts this post became blind as a child - she read her books in Braille - and became an early childhood education and nurture advocate...