Years ago, at a Toastmasters Conference, I attended a workshop by Robert Middleton. He talked about creating an audio logo, a quick elevator speech that answers the question, "What do you do?" If you respond with a role--I'm a realtor or a doctor or a Christian Bookstore Owner--people's prejudices rise up. Instead of seeing you, they see their own image of your profession.
The Word Shop's mission is over our door: Proclaiming the love of God in Christ Jesus. This has never been very useful in elevators:
"What do you do?"
"Oh, I proclaim the love of God in Christ Jesus."
"Right." (Suddenly the inquirer exhibits a strange fascination with elevator buttons.)
Once, while in the throes of an artsy event, I suggested that we were rather like a salon. Michael countered with, "One O short of a saloon." It reminded me of an opera week where I learned more about Puccini than any sane person would ever want to know. We watched one opera that took place in California gold rush days. (That in itself was weird enough: an Italian opera about the wild west.) The lead character was a woman bartender who, I thought, was doing what I do--we're just drunk on different stuff.
Januarys are the worst time to deal with these kinds of questions because that's when I do the accounts from the year before. It becomes uncomfortably obvious that if you measure from the bottom line, I'm not much of a bookstore. Dave once wrote me: "You need to surrender your silly fixation that you're a bookstore and finally admit you're a consultant/adviser/concierge/minister running a self financing ministry."
Sometime surrendering is an attractive option. On more than one occasion I have been struggling to attach a white handkerchief to a handy stick (shtick?) only to have some beloved sponsor send a check, or a friend write a love-note on how important the Word Shop has been for them, or a stranger come in and rave, "this place is amazing."
So what does all this have to do with bunnies? Nothing. Last month I wrote about a program being a hair's breath (hare's breath) away from lying. That email went hopping down multiple garden paths. David Sweet wrote back, "I’ve always heard it as a 'hair’s breadth' a very old, very southern expression meaning the width or thickness of a hair."
OOOOHHHH! Hair's breaDth. That makes much more sense!
Sometimes I'm a hair's breadth away from lying
down.
"There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money, either." -Robert Graves
The best book I read all month was G.K. Chesterton's The Dumb Ox, which is about St. Thomas Aquinas. Bob and I did a short term Chesterton trade: my St. Francis for his Dumb Ox. Reading Chesterton, I am always amazed at the depth of my ignorance. He ranges--with great wit--over a whole landscape of history, ecclesiastic mores, theological and philosophical disputations, and the nature of particular personalities. I can barely keep up. I run along side, panting, with endorphins released from the exercise. Unfortunately I can't sell Bob's book, but I might buy one to thrust upon people. Meanwhile, I'm interested in the Dominicans. Does anyone know how I can make a connection with a current group--other than checking into the Dominican Hospital?
"You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it." - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
I found The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell hiding in a back corner of our Romance shelf. It had been traveling around the store for five years and was due to be put beyond the pale. (Pail.) Someone once mentioned that it was good. Thumbing through the pages, I noticed the main players were Jesuits. This book had no business snuggling up with Nicholas Sparks in a bed of Harlequin Romances. It's about a Jesuit mission to another planet. With increased global awareness, the modern view of missionaries has lost touch with the challenges of traveling blindly into a radically different and unknown culture. By sending the team off planet, The Sparrow gives a dramatic view of the difficulties Jesuits and others have encountered for centuries. An ex-Roman converted to Judaism, Russell consistently questions why a good God allows horrible things. In between the horrible things are beautifully written scenes of friendship and mature love. It's a difficult book with no easy answers. Maybe if she knew Jesus... When I bring it back to the store, I'll put it on the Oprah-esque shelf. $3.
"You have a very eclectic and ecclesiastic collection." - a visiting Brit at The Word Shop
Tales of Beedle the Bard, by the author who cannot be mentioned, arrived without the usual fanfare. It is a small volume comprised of five fairy tales, annotated by Albus Dumbledore. One of my family members wanted more tales and less historical notes. Another complained that only one of the five tales was any good. However, neither of them have been sitting in a bookstore for umpteen years listening to people talk about the dangers of Rabbity Ceramics. If they had, they would recognize in Dumbledore's commentary any number of friends, ex-customers and polemic pundits. Not to even mention those without a hare's breadth. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Pundits.
The Literary Prayer Party was fun. Six people showed up, three waving books. The others nabbed a prayer book from the store or just waved around empty hands while flapping their mouths. Some of the books mentioned were Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest, a classic that we have several copies of; Praying Dangerously by Regina Sarah Ryan, which spawned a dynamic prayer group; Waking the Dead by John Eldridge, which one wishes would spawn a prayer group; and Teresa of Avila's Way of Perfection, which I can never make much headway in. I'm waiting for The Way of Imperfection. This list of titles does not begin to do justice to the depth of conversation around books and their impact on our lives. Next month we'll have a LITERARY BIOGRAPHY PARTY. Friday, February 20 at 1:00. Bring a biography to wave around, or take one off our shelves. You are invited.
"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else." --Emily Dickinson
TEN STARS: A handful of people responded to last months newsletter by sending, or asking for, actionable Hot Tips. We've already experimented with two tips that could become habits that make a difference in our lives. I now have a list of tips and will send one out every couple of weeks to anyone who asks. If you want on the list, or have a tip worth trying, send it my way.
"The giant oak is an acorn that held its ground." - Anonymous
We're plotting the next Illuminated Journaling course. The working title is Going Forth; The Church Series. I like the idea of meeting each week at a different church. How about yours? Lynn is planning to offer 'art for beginners' tips to help folk get rolling. Unfortunately the plot hasn't thickened sufficiently to give you more details. Stay tuned.
"Have you ever thought about a Twelve Step program for people who talk too much? You could call it On and On Anon." -Mary Doria Russell in The Sparrow
That is really not bunny.
Blessings,
Alliee +