I used to be one of those people who proudly called themselves a bibliophile, or a book addict. And in many ways, I was! I would buy SO MANY books: from thrift stores, yard sales, and Kindle. The more books, the better! Only…

I would never read them.

I had over 1,000 ebooks and who-knows-how-many physical copies, and I never read any of them. I was that person.

What Changed

I started to get really annoyed in life. I was rich in amounts but poor in value. For instance, I had hundreds of Instagram followers, but never made friends because that was just too many people– I hardly spoke to the same person twice.

I also had a ton of shirts that I’d bought over time, but didn’t wear many of them. Or worse, I’d get overwhelmed looking at so many shirts and say, “I have nothing to wear.” Ironic.

In the same way, I had a TON of books, but no real connection to any of them.

I started craving value. Meaning. Worth.

What I Did

I started taking a closer look at these books that I’d bought. I loved books, so I bought them even without caring what they were about. I was surprised to see some of the books that ended up in my possession.

I realized I had a lot of self-help books that I’d bought when I was younger, books I had outgrown. I didn’t know Christ back then, and I thought that if only I “improved” myself, I would be loved, liked, and happy. Those books I outgrew as I got closer to Jesus.

Self-help books: Sold to the local bookstore for store credit. Maybe they could help somebody else.

I also had a lot of wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing books. What are those? The books that masquerade as self-help, but are instead about magical thinking, the law of attraction, and any number of un-Biblical things.

And before you scoff, I most definitely include Joel Osteen in that category!

False books: I put in the recycling bin. Yuck.

Then there were the books I read and loved ❤️ The ones with sentimental value, I kept and placed high upon my bookshelf 🙂 Some I loved, but didn’t feel the need to keep them.

Books I loved: I donated to the local thrift stores. So that they can bring joy to someone else, the way they brought me joy!

Now What?

I feel so much lighter! 😄

1. I check out a lot of ebooks from the local library. I can do it straight from my computer and read them on my Kindle. It’s very nice and they don’t take up space in my house. I also use Kindle Unlimited.

2. I re-read my Bible, often. This keeps me from buying questionable “Christian” books. I’m the type of Christian that if it’s not in the Bible, I don’t wanna hear it, so this works well for me.

3. I buy history books– and I read them. What can I say? I love history and war books!! I now stick to subjects that fascinate me instead of buying everything I see. I feel a little like the guy from the commercial…

Oh, and if you wonder what happened to my Instagram or shirts, I got rid of those too! I deleted all social media and donated full bags of clothes to the local charity thrift store. This, also, feels very light and airy!

This was something I was thinking about during the weekend, so I thought I would share 🙂 Oh, and I also saw bunnies this weekend!

I hope you had a good weekend 🙂

안녕! Bye! Ciao!

jarilissima