What I Read in 2013

I realize it's been a LONG time. Far too long in fact, since I have had a post on what I've been reading. The last time I posted, was in MAY last year. Yikes. I've spent all my time since then reading and not blogging about it...sorry, and I will try harder in 2014.

I did not read all the books that I had written down on that list, but I did read a ton of books that I came across through the months.

Tam's Top 5 (Based on the fact that I learned the most, read more than once or simply is timely based on where we are in our life's journey)
üWhen Life & Beliefs Collide...James  *   I absolutely love books that make me think, question myself, challenge what I believe and examine my foundations and motivations. This book was one of those, it helped refine what I think and how to convey it.
üRevolution The Story of the New Testament Church (the first 17 years)...Gene Edwards 

Honourable Mention goes to:

üGod's Favourite Place on Earth...Frank Viola*   I loved this book. A really different take on the house in Bethany and it's role in the life of Jesus then and now.

üEducating the Whole Hearted Child...Clay Sally Clarkson
   This is a must read for all homeschoolers, and one to go back to again and again through the process.

Books I read cover to cover (the ones with stars I recommend)

üRoaring Lambs...Bob Briner 

üThe Alchemist...Paulo Coelho

üThe Gospel of Ruth...James 

üLost Women of the Bible...James
üDumbing Us Down (The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling)...John Taylor Gatto
üLast Child in the Woods...Richard Louv *             
      I read most of this. It's definitely one to keep on hand. Such a good book to come back to when you are trying to change your family habits of being indoors so much.

üWheat Belly...William DavisüSame Kind of Different as Me... Ron Hall and Denver Moore's

üThe Fall of Rome
üA Place Called Freedom...Ken Follet
üThe Silas Diary...Gene Edwards 
üThe Titus Diary...Gene Edwards 
üThe Timothy Diary...Gene Edwards 
üThe Priscilla Diary...Gene Edwards 
üThe Gaius Diary...Gene Edwards 

Books I STILL check in on Every Year

Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

Simple Abundance - Sarah Ban Breathnach

Grace Based Parenting - Tim Kimmel

Currently Reading
The Happiest Toddler on the Block...Harvey Karp
Orthodoxy...GK Chesterton

Up Next
The Way they Learn...Cynthia Tobias

When the Church Was a Family...Joseph H Hellerman
Jesus Manifesto...Frank Viola & Leonard Sweet

The Key to your Child's Heart...Gary Smalley
Hind's Feet on High Places...Hannah Hurnard
Emma...Jane Austen
The Guests of War Triology...Kit Pearson

Einstein - Walter Isaacson

Prisoner in the Third Cell-Gene Edwards

A Briefer History of Time – Stephen Hawking

A Short History of Everything - Bill Bryson

The Pursuit of God – A W Tozer

The Works of Charles Dickens

The Big Ones I Hope to Tackle someday...

Confessions or The City of God....AugustineMere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

The Divine Comedy by Dante

Paradise Lost by John Milton

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

The Odyssey by Homer

The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer

To All Little Sisters...

                     

Little Sister

I know life seems dark and overwhelming right now. It seems lonely and like you’re trying so hard with so little results. It’s not fun, I get it. Hang in there.

You are in a season. Seasons last only so long and before you know it, the next one is upon you.

It’s ok. Take a deep breath.

When we fight against the seasons, we will never find a true rhythm and rest in life. That joy and peace that is present in the wrinkles of the wise who have lived through many seasons and embrace them in their fullness.

Seasons are not just in the passing of months and days on the calendar. They are in seasons of life. You will have seasons in relationships, in spiritual growth, in your career, in a greater calling, in parenting and in personal growth and maturity. Sometimes, when you are in one season in one part of life, you are also in a different season in another area, sometimes they converge… the point is to embrace them. To  live through each taking the good and the uncomfortable of each, knowing they produce one thing. A Life. YOUR LIFE.

So, look around you. What season are you in? Is it dry, is it barren and maybe even cold? Does everything and everyone seem to be buried? Out of reach?

Welcome to WINTER.

What a beautiful season!

It’s a much needed one. It is a season of rest, of SLOW, of quiet and separation and preparation. It is a season of peace and calm.

Winter is the season for reflection and introspection. It is one where on the outside, not much growth is visible, but underneath the surface, the roots are going deeper and getting stronger.

In winter, you can hear better. There is not as much fighting for your attention.

In winter, the skies are clearer and the air crisper. Unless there is a storm. There will be storms.

The snows and winds, the winter storms come to cover the earth. To blanket her, and provide a means for cleansing in the spring thaw. In winter, the fat is burned. The excess gets used up, or frozen and discarded. This is good. In winter, things die off. These things need to die, to make room for the new growth to come.

There is such beauty in the winter season of life. Sometimes it seems like relationships are hard, maybe it’s time to back off and rest for a bit. Everything is harder to do in winter. That’s why animals hibernate or migrate. We could learn from them if we watch them. Sometimes we hit those dry patches, we feel like we’re not learning anything, nothing seems to “catch us”…that’s ok. The ground is hard, impenetrable. The creator is at work in the ground of our hearts. In winter, we reflect back on what we’ve learned in the past “year”, and we plan…knowing the energy and excitement of a new season will come, it always comes. The warmth of the sun will touch our skin again. But then winter will be over.

Or perhaps you are in a SPRING.

Spring usually comes slowly. If we have truly embraced winter, and loved it. We will see the signs of spring and not grow impatient. They will encourage us. In spring, the thaw comes as slowly the position of the sun changes and the warmth and light extend into longer and longer stretches. The ground opens up. The waters wash away the debris. There is work to be done. Time for reflection and planning has passed. Hopefully, you used your winter well. It’s time to plant, to raise up seedlings, to turn the soil, to open the windows and sweep away the dust.

In spring, everyone seems to begin to tentatively venture outdoors again. They open up their lives and hearts again. Spring is dirty. It is wet. Sometimes it is uncertain. We aren’t sure if we need a jacket or a tshirt. So we wear both. We hear lovely birdsongs again. We see green sprouting and flowers bursting through the dirt and patches of snow. Spring is full of new life, rebirth. Ideas abound, hope is high. Love is easy, new life is celebrated and welcomed with great joy. Summer is on its way.

SUMMER

Oh the days of summer. Summer arrives in glory! The joy of days of fullness. Some harvesting, some playing, long days. Fruitful days. Food is abundant. Summer is noisy, full of song, laughter, shouting and greetings. Getting together with others is easy. Connecting with ideas and being productive is second nature. Celebration is common. Even work is fun.

As summer passes, the calendar fills up. The days become so full, they pass quickly, and thus summer seems to be short. It’s no shorter, just busier. Not as busy as fall mind you, but a different kind of busy. Everything is growing, until it isn’t. Then it gets hot. And DRY. Uncomfortably so. Enough to make us look forward to the cool winds of autumn. But not yet. Despite the heat and dryness, there is much work to be done, and the last of the summer fun to be had.

AUTUMN

In the midst of the busyness (and often the longing for more summer) people don’t even notice the early changeover of fall. Often, because of regrets in not living well in the preceding seasons...

But autumn is MAGNIFICENT! Many times, people lose the full benefits of the fall. It becomes rushed and harried…they lose their joy.  But regardless, it comes and speeds by with the harvesting and the people, everywhere people. Too many to be able to really take care of, but many hands make light work.

Thanksgiving. The reasons for a heart full of gratitude and praise are everywhere. There is beauty and abundance everywhere. While harvesting, the preserving and the setting aside the seed for the next spring. 

The cleanup, so much clean up. There is anticipation of a joyous celebration at the end of the autumn in the holidays. 

The autumn has shorter days though, and the weather and circumstances are always uncertain. It is windy, and the beauty can be blown away quickly. The Harvest rains come, to prepare the earth for the rest of Winter…but by then we are usually already inside, preparing for the celebrations that ease us from one season into another and mark the passing of the circle of time bound in a growing year.

Little sister… look up. Behold the season. Behold the passing of time. The ONE who has quietly observed the passing of the times and seasons through the ages, HE is with you. HE holds your days. Your moments in the sun and moments covered in the snow. Your moments caught in the storms. He is HERE. HE is HERE. In your heartbeat, In the breath of heaven that created us, that we use to walk on the earth.  In the still small voice. In the rising and setting of the sun. Calm your heart, still your mind. REST.

He is HERE. HE IS HERE.

Yes

2014 is barely begun. Outside my window a winter freeze is blustering with a fury, and I am hunkered down with a tea and a lit candle gently glowing. One boys is playing in the snow, 2 boys are are reading hoping to have some time on the xbox later... and the baby is napping- for a brief moment it is quiet here. My heart is not completely quiet though.

Christmas is packed up and put away, the house is back in order, laundry and "home love" is under control...in the quiet, I start to think...maybe this year...

Maybe this year, I'll finally lose the weight that has haunted me since 1999.

Maybe this year, I'll get the chaos of pictures under control in the office.

Maybe this year, I'll memorize something grand like the book of Romans, or a passage from the Odyssey or from Othello.

Maybe this year, I'll write that book, or do something...anything significant...

The expectation is overwhelming...

This I know, I cannot fulfill this list on my own. Impossible.

But this I know more, GRACE. 

The sufficiency of that five letter word, is so simple, it overtakes everything you put in it's path. 

I have decided to pick a word for this year, to sum up what lies ahead...the great unknown. Perhaps some faith is required. 

The word makes my heart start to race...

So I can only get to it, by going through GRACE first. 

The word is YES.

adverb \ˈyes\

• used to give a positive answer or reply to a question, request, or offer
• used to express agreement with an earlier statement or to say that statement is true
• used to introduce a statement that corrects or disagrees with an earlier negative statement
• allright, alright, aye (also ay), exactly, OK (or okay),okeydoke (or okeydokey), yea, yeah, yep, absolutely, assuredly, certainly, indeed, indisputably,positively, undoubtedly, unquestionably

I am so used to having to say no... no to my kids, no to myself, no, no, no.

This is the year of YES. It all started a month or so ago when I watched this...

...and I felt something shift inside me... the road less traveled was whispering my name.

The one who said YES to the cross in my place, is whispering my name at every corner. 

Of course ever since then, I seem to encounter it everywhere...in conversations, on the radio, things I read, blogs, Television... Yes universe, I am listening...

and by grace...my answer is YES.