Called to a Small but Important Thing
Last week, we found ourselves in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for a few hours. A friend suggested we visit Nooks Gallery and Bookshop. I love visiting good bookshops, so it didn't take much to convince me.
Nook's was bought a couple of years ago by Shawn Smucker, an author who recently went viral for a poem on AI, and his wife Maile Silva, who has a book coming out soon. Knowing who owned it made me even more curious about the bookstore.
The store was wonderful. It's relatively small, consisting of four rooms, including a large back room that's also an event space. You won't find many bestsellers there. Instead, you'll find a collection of carefully curated books, ones you might never discover unless you visit a bookstore like this. It also has a small collection of pottery from a local potter.
We only spent an hour there. I was trying to be frugal and regretfully didn't buy anything. I don’t know why. But I'm already planning how to go back the next time I'm in the area.
Afterwards, I started listening to the podcast that Smucker and Silva created called So, We Bought a Book Shop. They not only share their love of books but also give insight into what it's been like for them to buy and run the bookstore and bring it to where it is today. As I listen, my list of books to buy is getting longer.
My one-hour visit to this bookstore brought me so much joy that I'm still thinking about it days later. I enjoyed a lot of things about my vacation last week, but visiting Nooks was one of my favorites.
It reminded me of a quote I read somewhere — I can’t find it, but it sounds like it should be from Wendell Berry — about cultivating the little piece of land God has given you. That's what the owners of Nooks have done. They're cultivating a small, independent book shop on a particular street of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They’re writing and podcasting, which spreads their reach a little farther. But really, there’s something about them serving through a space that was a blessing to me, just as it has been to many others.
I don't live in Lancaster and probably won't be back in their store for a while. But I'll keep listening to their podcast, and I’m grateful they're doing what they are called to do there, just as God has called us to do the same wherever we are.
Our callings are different. I’m a pastor, not a book seller. You have your own calling too. But in a way, we’re all similar. We’re to put our hands to the small thing God called us to do, and pour our hearts into it too. If we all did the hard work, perhaps God would use our efforts in unexpected ways that would bless others without us even knowing about it. That's what they've done, and I believe it's what God has called all of us to do as well.
