more than a bookstore

The first haven is in St.Augustine,Florida.Down a narrow side street ,with shade and cobblestones,I walk as if on pilgrimage and enter.She sits reading behind the cash register and smiles a hello.I have thanked her for staying open all these years and then I browse.Last year, when I thanked her ,she expressed gratitude because business is down and she and her partner wonder about staying open.But then she told of their beginning.Before the small door opened for the first time at the front of this narrow shop, they held hands,prayed and asked to serve.

In the quiet of the store,I find books that enlarge my vision of this world.A book called Cathedrals of the Spirit about sacred spaces, takes me flying with the wind in my hair to sacred groves,wells,Cathedrals and caves.A book about retreat places high in the mountains or near a shoreline,calms my spirit before I even open to the first page.The previous owners of these books of holy places are people that I would love to invite to sit with me on my porch ,to drink steaming green tea,and talk as a peony opens in my glass vase.

The second shop is called Omega and is ten miles from my house.It is larger and busier and the feeling is different but treasures abound.The other day I bought a book called "The Road Within".It has varied essays on the spiritual journey. I found this from a writer who believes that an Indian spirit speaks to her and said this:"We are leaving now and very few of you are left. You must pray higher.Pray for the thousand of people who sleep.All people used to pray.Now those of you who remember must pray the prayers for everyone.Stand on the mother(earth),touch her,let her prayers come through your feet and go in a thousand directions.Let the mother play you like a flute.Pray the mother's prayers and then all of creation,all of life,will be well loved and prayed for.You must pray hard and big and fill this world with light so that when the skies crack open ,the prayers will fill in the cracks and darkness cannot seep in.These things are very important now.There are not many of you left."Judy Mayfield

These sentences are gifts to me.They encourage what I believe to be my purpose with language that
is gritty and true.The next time I pray it will be with my feet curled around the cool,light green spring grass.