weekends are for curling up with books ~ Holy Experience

I
n a quiet week of recuperation, I curled up with words and they curled around me and I wrapped up in rest.

What's been on the nightstand:

Dancing with My Father: How God Leads Us into a Life of Grace and Joy

The prose has a steady rhythm, yes, like a gentle beat, and these words do make you dance.

Sally Clarkson's, Dancing with Father, is the read of a friend, a mentor, sharing her journey to joy, and I found myself returning and lingering over passages, shimmering personal narrative woven throughout the work. Sally, homeschooling mother to four, writes transparently and openly of trials and dry times ... and with such a compelling, gentle wisdom. This is truly a thoughtful book, a practical primer to joy, every chapter including probing journaling questions, Scripture references for further study, and a heartfelt prayer.

I didn't find this to be a paint-by-number, formulaic book, but an honest, considered invitation to live a life of authentic, Biblical joy. If you're discouraged or burned out or simply seeking to deepen your relationship with Father --- this is a very worthwhile read and one you'll return to. I agree --- this is Sally Clarkson's best!

To grow in this joy, I have to move where He leads. When dancers attempt to turn in different directions, there is no beauty, no synchronizing of movement. But when they learn to read each other's movements and move as one body, there is beauty, a grace, and a skill of step that grants the joy of unity and elegance to the dance.

Orthodoxy: Centennial Edition

A Chesterton classic I've had on my shelf too long without reading in its entirety. The wisdom packed into every line necessitates a slow chewing, like a feast where every mouth is rich. I'm savoring this one slowly and nightly and it is profound. Highly Recommended.

"Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind."

InsideOut: Poems

L.L. Barkat's InsideOut: Poems should come with a warning. Once begun --- you won't want to stop. Like a child eating sweet cherries, I kept saying "only one more poem, just one more" -- until I found myself nearly over three-quarters through the book!

And then... I found myself seeing life as poem, moments as beauty. This book of poetry gives you more than words. It gives you eyes.

Autumn Milkweed

A thousand seeds
burst from this
rough belly,
fling themselves
to the wind....
a tumble
of silken forgetfulness.

Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

The current read for the Bloom Book Club, I began my second sitting of it at page thirty in the early hours of the morning and a fever. I turned the last page mid-morning with the fever ebbing and my heart far richer. What a page-turner! And exceptionally well-written. This New York Times best-seller is an unforgettable book of a true story that could change your life mission, your passions, and your whole worldview. How can one person reach out and care about another deeply hurting person? And how can that person then powerfully minister to you in your hurt. And that one relationship have a ripple effect that changes a whole city. This book could change your life.

Same kind of Different as Me makes you want to make a difference.

Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl: Living the Faith after Bible Class Is Over

Lysa Tekeurst writes sharp, real, true. With humor, powerful narrative, and keen clarity, this is a book where one very wise girlfriend does life with you, leading you into an intimate relationship with God. Exploring the question, "Does Jesus work?" --- how does Jesus make a difference in my everyday life, like when the day gets 'ugly' and I'm overwhelmed --- Lysa urges past the "Christian good girl checklist" into what does it mean to live in fellowship with Jesus.

Lysa is a rare writer -- one who writes with the wit of your best friend, the love of your sister, the insights of your Bible teacher and the wisdom of your mama. This is a real book with the hope of real change.

"Power enters our prayers not by sounding powerful, but by listening for even the slightest whisper from the one who is all powerful."

M
ay your quiet wanderings this weekend, kind friends, have you curl up with The Word that revives, heals and leads us certain onward.

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ~ Ro. 15:4

All's grace,