From Sherry Early, Meriadoc Homeschool Library:

Blessed are the men of Noah's race that build 
their little arks, though frail and poorly filled, 
and steer through winds contrary towards a wraith, 
a rumour of a harbour guessed by faith.

~Mythopoeia by JRR Tolkien

Like Noah, I am building an ark. My ark looks more like a library than a boat because it is indeed a library, three rooms full of over ten thousand books. I’m not saving animals, thank goodness. I’m not much of an animal tamer. Instead I am preserving stories, what educator Charlotte Mason called “living books.” And although I am protecting the books from flood and fire, I hope, I am ultimately more concerned about pulling all of the good books that I can save out of the inundation of trash and twaddle and pernicious indoctrination that I see all around me. And I want to make them available to anyone who will read and grow and drink in the goodness and truth of our human heritage in books.

To extend the metaphor, my library may not look like much. I only serve about twenty-five families, although I have enough stories and books to serve more. (You’re welcome to join my library.) Noah’s ark didn’t look like much either. Oh, it was big all right, but what’s a big boat in the face of a worldwide flood and the task of saving at least one pair of every animal on the earth? God told Noah to build the ark and get the animals and store food for them in the boat and then get his family on board. “And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.”

“Noah was six hundred years when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. . . And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.” Noah came from a family and a time of “long livers.” Still, at the ripe old age of 600, Noah might have expected to retire and take it easy. Instead, God called him to build and captain an ark. I’m 65 years old, and I don’t really want to retire. And God called me to build a private living books lending library. (Here the analogy breaks down a bit. My grown children are somewhat supportive and mildly amused at my library project. But I doubt that any of them would be willing to sit for seven days in the library at God’s command waiting for God to do something.)

At any rate, my ark-ish library may not be all that impressive in opposition to the forces of darkness that are overwhelming our world. People may laugh and point and say, “What do you expect to do with all those old, out-dated stories of dogs and dragons and cowboys and missionaries and knights and princesses? Do people even read books anymore? How can stories save the world?” And I will answer, just like Noah probably did, “I don’t know.” I just do what I am called to do. And God himself will use the libraries and the schools and the book clubs and the homeschools and the churches and the homes that He has called us to build and maintain to be the salt that preserves His kingdom and glorifies His name. I don’t know how. I just trust that He will.

This article is part of our Librarian Notices series of library stories at The Card Catalog. You can connect with us to comment on this story or any of our other library stories on our Facebook page.