I don’t know a good book.

I’m not a good curator. (I am a curate, in the old sense of the word. I care for souls.)

But I finally realized recently that what I am not is a curator. People often ask me about books. “Have you read a good book on this? Do you know a good book about that?” And I hardly ever know how to answer. I often point them to something I’ve written, or I offer to write something. But I don’t much read books for sharing.

My friend Todd is a curator, both modeling it and teaching itA curator gathers the best specimens, the representative samples. A curator is a librarian, building a collection and making it available and pointing people to the best places. A curator points us in the direction of the best sources.

I’m not really a translator, either. Translators work precisely, trying to take something in one language and express it clearly and accurately in another. A Bible translator looks at the Greek and puts it in the language that people are speaking, in their heart language.

And though I am creative, I am not a creative. Creatives make something out of debris and pieces. But they aren’t so much worried about making us understand something as understanding themselves.

What I am is an interpreter. I explain. I explore. I find metaphors that illustrate the idea. I sit and listen to a story, to your heart, to God. And then I try to take us into that listening.

But I need curators. And translators. And creatives. I need the people who are finding the great sources. I need the people who are making sure that words are turned into other words accurately. I need people who make stuff up, who delight us.

So use your gift.

This is an exploration of ideas found in Not the Same

6 thoughts on “I don’t know a good book.

  1. Jon Swanson

    You know, it occurs to me that when people ask me about books, I should come to you all. For example, a friend asked awhile ago whether I knew any books about healing/helping a broken father/daughter relationship. Daughter is in early teens. Dad is the one who caused the problem.

    Any thoughts?

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  2. Joseph Ruiz

    Beautiful picture of what it means to be a body. Jon I don’t know of any specific books but the first place I would look would be Henry Cloud john Townsend website sounds like the kind of material they would have might require a bit of translation to fit the book to the topic they are quite prolific.
    Thanks for what you do

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  3. AJ Leon

    Not sure I agree, Jon. I think you are both an Interpreter & a Creative. This platform is evidence of that. You may indeed use the medium of interpretation, but every time you hit the publish button, you just created something that would have never been “out there”. 🙂

    AJ

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  4. Pingback: Dear Jon: Bible studies for couples. | 300 words a day

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