Last week, I started reading a memoir called To Shake the Sleeping Self, as I mention below. It’s totally outside my norm, reading-wise, as I read a ton of different genres, but tend to stick with fiction most often. (See my reading section below for a quick synopsis.)
This book was chosen as the inaugural book club book for a self-care group I participate in on Facebook. So I dove in!
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but by page 2 of the book, I was bowled over. For those of you who have read my blog since I started it earlier this year, you’re familiar with the struggles I’ve been going through. I think that’s why this book resounds with me.
Here are a few quotes that spoke to my heart…or rather, poked me right in the eye:
“But as you get older, and the patterns become more obvious, time speeds up. Especially once you find your groove in the working world. The layout of your days becomes predictable, a routine, and once your brain reliably knows what’s next, it reclines and closes its eyes. Time pours through your hands like sand.”
“If you were a suburban kid like me, you probably grew up in a school system that wants you to go to college and choose a major and go straight into a job and a marriage and a mortgage. It gives you rungs of achievement: a degree, a wife, a house, kids, golf, whatever—and makes you think these things give life meaning. ‘Collect them all and win!’”
“‘Do what you what you love’ and ‘follow your passion’ become foundational values. But it’s all so slippery. Do what you love, but stay on the assembly line. There’s no time to find what you love, you should be building your credit score. Take risks, but don’t be foolish. Believe in yourself, but only if you’ve proven you should…Got it? Perfect.”
“Time became visible. Each choice I made began to feel more and more final, as if every choice was the death of all the others. Millions of doors were locking behind me as I passed them in the hallway. I felt that adulthood was coming like winter. Am I missing out? Am I making the right decisions? Am I becoming the person I want to be? It often dawns too late that we have only one life, only one path, and the choices we make become the story line of our lives.”
And here’s the kicker:
“I loved God and Jesus and believed I was a ‘friend of God.’ He had a plan for my life. A plan to make me prosper. A legacy to live as a testament to Him. I was raised this way. It added a glaze over every choice. It was God’s plan for my life. And with the creator of the universe pulling the strings, how could any of it be mundane?
So my fear of thirty, my anxiety over missing my ‘calling,’ carried with it dull guilt. Was I trusting God enough? Were my ambitions self-serving? Was I doing enough in the service of the Kingdom? I didn’t know. But I knew I wanted to do right, to live right, to be good.”
Best bite
Each week, I’ll drop in a pic and description of my favorite sip or bite—and a recommendation, too!
OK, this best bite is a little different. It’s Crockpot Turkey & Pesto Lasagna—and it was delicious. But only the first two times I ate it. After that, I didn’t love it. So, moral of the story, if you make this recipe, don’t plan to eat the leftovers more than once!
Favorite Reads
Last week, I finished up Elin Hildebrand’s Winter in Paradise. To be honest, I didn’t love it. It was light and easy, but it ended on a complete cliffhanger with no resolution until next fall’s next book.
I’ve gotten started on To Shake the Sleeping Self, and loving it thus far. It’s a memoir of a man who—for his 30th birthday—went on a year+ long bike ride from Oregon to Patagonia. I don’t intend to take a bike ride anywhere anytime soon, but I am totally feeling his mindset and what he ponders about life.
Nearing the end of Jodi Picoult’s A Spark of Light. SO good, but I’m being good and only listening as I work out, so it’s taking me a bit to parse through.
Auntie’s baby
Now surely, you didn’t think I’d create a blog without my baby love in it, right?!
Meet Addie Mouse. Costume made by nana!
Questions I’m pondering…
These things are on my mind—if you know the answer, please share! Sometimes these will be light-hearted, other times they will not.
- When did we reach the point where we worry so much about whether our symptoms are severe enough to merit a doctor’s visit?
- We celebrate a 2-year-old’s birthday for weeks. Why don’t we joyfully celebrate every birthday that way—rejoicing for a new year?
- Are you less precious to God if you want to check the football score in the middle of church? 😂
Quote of the week
Wrapping things up
Last Thursday, I was having a terrible afternoon. Couldn’t get an appointment with my doctor…couldn’t get the Internet to work right…and was being pestered by a neighbor’s lawn guy making entirely too much noise.
So I stepped away. I went to early vote—and ran into a rally for the man I support as our next senator, former governor Phil Bredesen. What had been a terrible afternoon turned into a reminder that we ALL have a say in this country. That your vote does matter, and that there is hope to be found, even in the midst of hate.
Have you voted yet?
See you next week.
Grace Always Wins 