At Books-A-Million 10:17 am

Half finished latte on the side table

Warm grey pleather chair

Myriads of books that tell me...

who to be

how to be it

where to go

how to get there

and why I am doing it all wrong.

Memories of senior dismissals in high school

Visiting the new-fangled book/coffee store around the corner

We were so informed

We knew it all

Or we thought we did.

Gonna be SOMETHING

Gonna CHANGE the world

Never gonna be CONFINED to a small corner

Gonna GET OUT of here.

I mill through the shelves

Smell that refreshing new paper and old coffee smell

Pick one up

Put it down

Do it again

Feel the twisting in my guts as I wonder how young and old minds alike

Navigate the shelves of wisdom and trickery.

Return to my latte.

Pick up the book I brought with me

The only perfection in an otherwise imperfect framework.

No purchases today other than my soul

And He bought it because I couldn't.

My book falls open to a well-worn passage that reminds me

That HE allowed me to live FREE

In THIS small corner

By NOT getting out

But by STAYING put

And hoping to see the lives of two little ones change

As they learn of His free gift.

They may fly far one day

Leave this all behind.

But wherever they go

May they not forget to take their FREEDOM with them

Because once it is received it cannot be TAKEN away.

That will be my joy.