I’ve spent the last couple of hours vacuuming, sweeping, and mopping my house, and the whole time I’ve had this question in my head, “What am I going to do with all these books, Lord?”

I’m talking about the stack of books people have sent me for review. There is NO way in the world I can read even a fraction of them. I heard the mail truck a few minutes ago and decided to take a break to walk to the mailbox. Inside were three packages — containing six more books!

As Christian Women Online has grown (and the audience is now huge), I’m on every media list out there. I love reading these great Christian books — but I’ve decided I can’t possibly read and review more than four to six books per month. And that’s still a lot!

I have to keep up with my housework, meal preparation, discipling my own children, transporting my kids here and there, and — oh yes — I’m a wife!

So, after I opened that last package of books, I asked again, “What am I going to do with all these books, Lord?” And AT LAST, I had a huge flash of insight.

I can’t read them all — I can’t review them all — but these books can become part of my library that will be a ministry to everyone who comes into my house. I already loan out my novels regularly to friends, who pass them on to others. Many of these women have never read a Christian novel in their life. So that’s a ministry I can offer.

In the past week, I’ve received two Christian young adult novels, a nonfiction book for 20-somethings, and today — a new book on abstinence. These are wonderful resources for anyone who works with young people. A couple of weeks ago, I told our youth pastor about a great book for teaching the Bible to teenagers. And just this morning in our mom’s Bible study, I mentioned several books while I was making a point about something (or at least trying to).

So maybe this will be my role: I’ll be your local friendly librarian — the lady who loves Christian books and can recommend a book on any subject.

A woman wrote me yesterday saying she was having an identity crisis as a young mom; she and her friends are all asking the question, “Who am I?” She wanted to know if I recommended any books. Of course! That was an easy email to answer.

NOW … my next goal is to get more of YOU writing book reviews. It’s a cinch to go over to Amazon and write about a book you’ve just read. Are you doing this? If you read a book and like it a lot, why not tell thousands of people?

If you’re the mom of a teenager, are your teens writing book reviews? If they enjoy writing, why not? I wrote hundreds of essays in high school and college — yet hardly anyone saw them except for my teachers and professors. Most of these essays were my flowery and sometimes intriguing reflections on literature. If I were an English teacher, I’d have my whole class writing book reviews.

Well, I’ve got to get back to cleaning — and thinking. This is what we home librarians do while our children are napping.