Every few days my daughter in Kentucky sends me a picture of my newest grandson. Here's the latest.
Noah, as you can see, is enthroned on a pillow, watched over by his mommy and daddy. I was praying about him today, about the life he has to look forward to growing up in a loving home. As I prayed I felt like God was reminding me all over again that family is like a library -- books tucked tightly against each other, be the bookshelf large or small. This is your library, he said to me. These are the books of your life. Every book, and every page in every book, is a story written by me before any one of them was birthed. I, the Librarian of your soul, have carefully arranged each book in its proper place on the shelf, weaving them all together in my perfect plan of love for you.
I love my library of books, just as you do yours. Some are hefty volumes, others are slim. But each spine has a name on it. One of these names is "Noah Hadley." God has written all of us into each other. When one wins a Nobel Prize for Literature, all rejoice. Should one become damaged or water stained, all weep and suffer. Either way, together we entrust our souls to the One who authored us. We will do life together for however long he determines. And when our shelf life is over, we will take our allotted place in the Library of Libraries, beside the Author himself.