Spiritual Discipline



Well I've done something tonight that I never thought I would do...I moved some of my books into storage. I couldn't sleep tonight because I was thinking about my family and my future, and as I sat in my office I looked at my crowded bookshelves and saw there were exceptional amount of books that I don't use now or that have no meaning to me. So I bit the bullet and started packing quietly, which is not an easy thing to do at midnight with a baby sleeping near by, not to mention my wife.

As I was cleaning my bookshelves I decided I would either only keep books that ment something to me, look good, something I could use, or something I enjoyed reading. It was quite interesting what took shape. The majority of my books were from my undergraduate and I had been leaving them there as a reminder of who I was and where I had come from. The majority of those books were packed away in fact the only books left to remind me of my past are some "Christian Theology" books thata look nice, and some anthologies of John Wesley's sermons. Even though I am no longer United Methodist I couldn't bear to part with them. What suprised me is that on my main bookshelf (the large white one with little cubbies) only two Jesus books made the cut. The first was "The Historical Jesus" by Crossan, and the other was "Jesus and the Gospels" by Blomberg. I kept the Blomberg book because that was the first critical study of Jesus book that I had owned. Crossan I kept because of his influence on how I have come to critically look at Jesus and Christianity in general.

Other books that made the cut onto my good bookshelf are books ranging from "Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galexy" to "Atlas Shrugged." Also several science books made it into here such as "A Breif History of Time." It will come to no suprise to some, but the majority of the books that stayed are classics. There are two series on my shelf the brown one is my wife's, and the Silver one is the start of my own. The rest are just an assortment of different types of liturature. Everything from poetry to philosophy is represented here. By far the two sections I need to work on the most are my science books and my philosophy.

On the second book shelf I have placed my school books, most of which won't make the next cut, and any other Christian books I felt like keeping. There are some books there that do mean a lot to me but that where I felt they would best be placed.

I found as I put away some of these books that a "weight" was lifted off of me. Kind of a spiritual house cleaning. I hope that this spiritual discipline will imbue me with a renewed sense of who I am and where I am going.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Came across your page because of the title"Kontakion" Have you read any Orthodox Theology like say "Being is Communion" or "The Freedom of Morality" If your up to the challaaange these might be eye openers like a trip to... or a daughter being born
6:24 AM
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