We are book worms at our house! Mark prefers to listen to books on his commute. The rest of us love our noses in a good book. Although I have read plenty of books with my kindle app, there is no replacement for the old fashioned ink and printed, page turning experience. Even Shipton will sit on my lap for hours at a time engaged in being read to. Leland still prefers to be read to, but is beginning to read simple books himself. Sennika and Gavin both love to read on their own. I am reading "The Continuous Atonement," by Brad Wilcox with Sennika and "A Princess Story" (see below) with Gavin as part of their bed time routines. We just started "King Arthur" together. Other recent reads are the Chronicles of Narnia series, Ann Keller, and Betsy Taci. Although there are trends shifting away from reading the classics, we love encouraging good reading in our home. I am finishing up "How to talk so your kids will listen and how to listen so your kids will talk," and just started "Parenting from the inside out."
I started a book club and last night was our first meeting. Although there are plenty of fun books to read out there, we will be focusing on gospel truths. The first book we read was "A Princess Story," written by my dear friend, Jaci Wightman. She is a fearless woman and a master Scriptorian, yet at the same time so relatable and down to earth. I met her 7 years ago and when I sat in her Gospel Doctrine class, I was on the edge of my seat. I had never been taught the gospel in that way before! For the first time, there were no holes, no "the gospel fits with all the pretty parts of my life, but what about this messy part over here?" It was exciting and the way she taught set me up with a solid frame work to understand Jesus Christ and the gospel as things were set into motion in my life. Her book was right up my alley, but I have no idea how it would have been received if I had read it 7 years ago. It was interesting to hear others' reactions. She had us go through an inventory section and that can be really hard to do---to look at ourselves through the eyes of truth. The first time I did an inventory it was really painful. Last night as the ladies were talking, I went into nurse mode for a moment with my own thoughts. When a person has trauma, we could slap a band-aid on it, yet the only way to truly heal is to go in and clean out any debris. The clean the wound. Then as it is closed up with stitches, it will heal (as long as it was done properly and the wound was kept sterile). As painful as it can be to look at my life and the patterns, it is the only way. In seeing what I have created when I relied on my own understanding and strength, it made it completely clear how desperately and personally I need my Savior. I don't know if you are a book worm like us or not, but this is a great read. You just have to go cover to cover because it all comes together. There were a few who said last night they almost quit reading because the inventory chapter was so intense.
We will be reading Brad Wilcox's "The Continuous Atonement" next. If you haven't ever heard him speak, he is phenomenal! He gave a devotional at BYU about grace that completely changed my understanding of grace (Google it! You will not regret the 30 mins it takes to experience it. #1 choice is to watch it because he is such an animated speaker. #2 listen so you can at least catch his tone of voice and voice changes). This talk gets your feet wet for what he covers in more detail in his book. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, many of us don't realize that grace is actually a doctrine we believe in. In our LDS culture we often get so caught up in the "faith without works" part or "it is by grace we are saved AFTER ALL WE CAN DO" that we think that means we are suppose to work really hard to cross everything off the list and that it is somehow even possible with our puny might. Yes, faith without works is dead, but I have come to realize that as I put my faith in Him, those works will naturally flow. As I am filled with His love and His strength, I naturally want to and will have the works that follow. Yes I do have to work, but it's a different work than I grew up thinking it was. It is the work of overcoming my prideful heart. It is the work of turning to Him and having hope that He can fix the messes I have created by working on my own, and letting Him do it. It is working the steps of repentance, however that may look for my own personal life and situation. It is coming to realize that He will justify me and I cannot pay that price, no matter what I do. That isn't what God is asking me to do. He is simply asking me to use this gift as it was intended...to quit trying to save and exalt myself. Again, I have no idea if reading is your cup of tea, but this is another great book to pick up and well worth your time.
All right, I better get off my soap box. You caught me in two of my passions: good books packed with truth and what I have discovered about Jesus Christ and the ways He had completely changed me and my life. :) Mark once joked that I have two settings---"passionate" and "passionate-er." Haha...I think you just got passionate-et-est. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment