Good Books

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp- Wow, this book was truly inspiring and beautiful-I could, and may read it every year to remind myself of the message. The tagline is A dare to live fully right where you are A farmer’s wife explores the meaning of eucharisto everyday in her life- finding thanksgiving, grace and joy in the seemingly mundane, and in the not so mundane. Voskamp is raw and honest, walking the reader through her personal pain and triumphs of life. She begins a journey by starting a journal of 1000 things for which to be thankful. Her writing style is amazing- super rich and poetic, I learned at least one new word. I was inspired to start my own list of 1000 gifts- it has been an exercise of gratitude to our Creator and Savior. The things on the list can be big or small, for me often they have been things I take for granted normally, but now as I develop the habit of thankfulness, I notice them more. My list is still short, I didn’t want to set myself a quote to meet each week, so I just write down an item when I realize I am thankful for it, so far here is my list-

1. Clean floors
2. Breezy afternoons
3. Friends who help paint
4. Voice recorders
5. Cold drinks
6. Emails from friends
7. Sunny mornings
8. Hot tea
9. Worship music
10. Quiet weekends
11. Sheets from home
12. Cool, overcast mornings

Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them by John Ortberg- I like relationshippy books, understanding people better is one of my interests/goals. That is one thing I really appreciated about nursing school and working - the opportunities it gave me to interact with different types of people; and learn how to better understand why they acted the way they did, and how to best relate to them. I really liked this book, Ortberg has included very down-to-earth and practical chapters on Authenticity, Acceptance, Empathy, Conflict, Forgiveness, Confrontation, Inclusion and other great concepts. My favorite takeaway is probably the quote  “normal, there’s no such thing, dear.”

More With Less Cookbook by Doris Longacre- This is a collection of Mennonite women’s recipes (um sold- those people can cook!) that was birthed out of the denomination-wide call for a focus on the world food shortage. This is kind of a holistic cookbook, besides the recipes it raises hard questions like Does what you eat affect who you are spiritually? Does your belief in God affect your way of living? Honestly, it has taken leaving the United States to see just how much my home culture glorifies, abuses, and wastes food in general. To quote the forward, “there is a way which gives not less but more. More joy, more peace, less guilt; more physical stamina, less overweight and obesity; more to share and less to hoard for ourselves. Okay, confession, I haven’t actually tried any recipes from the cookbook yet, but I love the prose section alone- and I am picking recipes out now to try- though as I said, they are from the Mennonites- I feel like I can’t go wrong here.