To Kindle or not to Kindle...That is the question.

I am planning a few trips and considering how to transport all of the books that I am reading.  If I were to leave today, this is the stack I would take -

If I were going very far, I would pare it down a little, but I like options.  It would be much easier if I bought a Kindle -

I actually borrowed this Kindle from my mother for my trip to Palm Springs.  It was much easier to carry around than a stack of books.  However, it just didn't feel the same.  Books feel like friends, but a Kindle is like a computer, which feels much less personal.  I won't even talk about how frustrated I got when I would turn too many pages at once and lose my place.  Then, my book ended when the Kindle said I was at 77%.  I was a little taken aback.  And how strange is it to have to stop reading during take off and landing?

I guess I have talked myself out of it for now.  I will be building up my muscles with my stack of books.

 

The Little Princess

To balance all of this extravagant fashion, I must interject a little literature.  I just finished reading The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett to my oldest daughter.  It was the story of a girl who goes from this -

to this -

I've never been a big fan of my girls playing "princess", because I believe that is quite a self-centered way to think.  So, I resisted reading this book for a long time.  But something made me finally pick it up at the library, and it was SO GOOD.  The main character Sara doesn't try to be a princess that is served by everyone else but rather a princess who exhibits self-control and kindness and has the power to do good in the face of evil. 

She says, "Whatever comes cannot alter one thing.  If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside.  It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it." 

And then later when she gives most of her food to the poor little child pictured above even though she is starving herself, she says, "If I am a princess - when they were poor and driven from their thrones - they always shared - with the populace - if they met one poorer and hungrier than themselves. They always shared." 

Now that's the kind of princess I like.

 

Words

I read to learn.  Consequently, I don't read much fiction.  However, occasionally I am reminded that a good story is 100 times more powerful than a simple declarative sentence.  So, I asked my niece Marlee, who has a book in her hands at all times, what her favorite book is.  She responded with -

The story is set during World War II (a period we've heard much about), but it is told from a new perspective. 

Death is the narrator, but the life of the book comes from its focus on words.

The story shows how powerful words are when they are spoken and how much stronger they grow when they become flesh.  There is a pivotal scene that occurs when hope and love appear in the flesh in the midst of a hopeless march to a concentration camp.  Living out your words is the strongest message you can give.

Seeing those poor souls walk that shameful, senseless path reminds me of one who walked that same death walk before them.  One who was mocked and whipped and spat on and then killed in order to bring us hope.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us...And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross...With your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." *

The Word who spoke the world into being submitted to the cruel hands of men to bring words of hope to all people. Words that become reality and give life to my soul.

* John 1:1, Philippians 2:8, Revelation 5:9