Most people who read this blog can probably think of a time that a pastor or Sunday school teacher has made the observation that if you want to stay out of sin, there are some places you just won't go (where the line is on places that are okay to go and places that are not okay is another debate for another time).
Anyhow, I've been thinking about this today.
And I've come to a decision.
I need to stop going to the library.
Today, as I walked toward its beckoning doors, I was caught in the overwhelming magnetic pull of the library's used bookstore. "Only to look," I thought. At first. Then it was "Only to look . . . unless I find something too good to pass up."
And I did.
So now I own two more copies of books we already have. But my justification is (1) that you can never have too many copies of a good Lewis book (today, A Grief Observed) -- and besides, if I don't actually own my own copy, I need to buy one for my future home and for posterity's sake; and (2) that Tree and Leaf is really really really hard to find (even in Oxford!).
I will say in my praise (yes, I know: "let another man praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips") that I did NOT buy The Magician's Nephew, That Hideous Strength, or Prince Caspian. Nor did I buy the Melville book or the small collection of Longfellow (hardcover with a dustjacket!). And, although for quite a while I was holding the 2006 edition of The Writer's Market, I didn't buy that either.
Aren't I self-controlled?
4 comments:
Ahhh book lust, my old friend, I know him well. It is a very, very good thing that I don't work in a bookstore. I would be broke. It's bad enough working in a library. I check out all these great looking books, max out my renewals on them, and then end up having to return them as my taste for reading usually far outdistances the acutal time I have.
I also crochet and suffer from yarn lust...but that's another topic entirely.
I can't believe you mentioned crochet today! All day I've been itching to go to the craft store and buy stuff for a new afghan. You need to live close-by-er!
The only problem with liking to crochet where I live is that you can rarely USE the afghans for anything. :(
I do need to live closer-by-er. I shall get my governor to work on moving Michigan closer to California.
I didn't remember that you crocheted! I do see your dilemma with afghans and the weather. Although, I can't say that I sympathize as It has been 40 degrees her since....like October. Perhaps you could unite your two loves and crochet a Barth-like sweater?
I thought of this when I read your post.
John Wesley asked his mom what sin was. She replied, "Son whatever weakens your reasoning, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God or takes away your relish for spiritual things, in short if anything increases the authority and the power of the flesh over the spirit that to you becomes sin however good it is in itself."
Commenting on Mrs. Wesley's definition Ravi Zacharias said, "Anything that refreshes you without distracting from, diminishing or destroying the final goal is a legitimate pleasure." He goes on to say in order to know what a distraction is you have to first understand what your purpose is.
If your life is to be spent educating, inspiring, encouraging, and equipping I don't see picking up some good books as a sin. As for crochet...I guess I can't say anything.
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