To the bookstore

I just received a Barnes & Noble book catalog in the mail today. I was so excited because I love looking through catalogs. It excites the imagination. But as I flipped through it I started to not like it anymore and I will tell you why.

If there is any one part of Barnes & Noble that I would have to point out as 'What I Love The Most', it is walking in and seeing all the books displayed so attractively on their tables. Organization and strategery at its prettiest. And as much as I have been taught not to judge a book by its cover, I totally do. I love looking at book covers and judging from the increasingly alluring photography and graphic designs lately, it seems book covers have gained their status alongside storyline and prose.

It suddenly felt like such a waste to be looking through this catalog in my hands. This catalog did not do these books any justice. This catalog did not smell like books and did not overwhelm me with possibility when I opened it. When I walk into B&N I get overwhelmed at how much I could know and how much I will never know. Kind of like God. This catalog stifled every large, grand and beautiful thing about any Barnes & Noble bookstore I love so much.

That is when I realized this catalog kind of represents me. Trying to capture all these things in just a few pages and hoping to win someone over, as when I try to 'promote' faith, missions, or God to someone, is wrong and insufficient. There are some cases where pictures and words may suffice. But a lot of the large, grand, beautiful stuff of believing, is just something that person has to experience themselves. A person who has only looked at a catalog of books their whole lives will never know what they are missing unless they get up and go to the bookstore. And while part of me thinks the right amount of encouragement and nudging to get up and go will do it for a person... another part of me thinks it is more important for a person to realize it on their own. It needs to be their decision. Again, kind of like God. He encourages, nudges, even pushes a little, but ultimately He leaves it up to us to get up and go. Or not.

Catalog, bookstore. Catalog, bookstore. I suppose it is not necessary have to choose one or the other. I can always look at my catalog and then go to the bookstore. But if I were to choose, I hope that I never choose the catalog over the bookstore. That I am never too lazy to go to the bookstore, because the bookstore is a greater experience. Greater atmosphere. Greater detail. Greater gain.