The library.

This following self-disclosure will probably forever classify me as a dork:

the library is a favorite visiting spot for me.

The doors open at 10 am, but if you get there a bit beforehand, you can see some of the regulars. Many are homeless, and often they come to the library to stay warm during the winter, or search for jobs through free computer use. Then, there are the moms, instilling in their children a healthy love for books and for asking questions of the world we live in. Students from local colleges are sometimes present, but most are out of school for the summer. Of course, the librarians know me by face now, although not by name. Not sure if I want to get that intimate with the staff. Haha. Especially since they know what books I check out, which already reveals a lot about me.

Today, I arrived at the library around 9:50 am, walking there from a local coffee shop a few blocks away. I had an exchange of laughter with one street dweller as a huge flock of children from a local school came walking down the street. They must have been on a field trip. He looked at me when they were about 20 feet away, and we both exchanged a knowing glance of, "OMG they are loud." In my thoughts, I also added "...and SO ALIVE." My new street buddy quickly left the scene, unable to handle that much noise in the morning. I just laughed and said hi to the kids as they passed by, books from the library in hand.

Today, an elderly lady who was working as a new volunteer at the library was going through training, as well as a young man with a mental handicap who was being instructed by another efficient young man on how to clean the library. The trainee caught my eye and we smiled at each other, as if exchanging an inside joke. I just sat, marveling at the gift of life that each embodied. They were having so much fun as they learned new skills. My eyes filled up with happy tears, as suddenly a fresh wave of gratitude for the moments we've been given washed over me.

Moments like these make me feel as if heaven is just a short distance away, as if the separation between here and there is so small that you can taste eternity and breathe in forever. Joy prompting wordless gratitude...mostly because there were no words adequate to express the beauty. I feel this when I'm around those who understand the important things in life, when I am living simply, when I'm in a place of surrendering all to God. I feel the most alive in the moments where nothing is mine except for Him.

And here, where He is my everything and my eyes see more through His eyes than before, I feel something eternal being worked into my heart, my gaze. My movements sketched from what I saw the Father doing and saying.

To live like that always, with heaven feeling present in my every moment, where seeing the face of Jesus everywhere I look is the norm--I long for that. To be a lover, not an activist. To do because my heart is so full of compassion that can't be legislated, only awakened.

Why the library is the place where I most often have these experiences, I have no idea. But one thing I do know, I will continue being a patron of the great building full of books.