Sitting Still

Is it possible to recommend a book after just two pages of reading? Apparently so. I’m always on the search for my favorite authors’ books on sale. Because, well, I love to share them. I love holding real books, bending the corners, writing in the margins. I’m also an admitted fan of brick and mortar bookstores. I live two minutes away from two great stores in Eugene, so I visit regularly: I really, really want them to survive. On a recent field trip, I bumped into a new book by my friend/au...

Have you ever made a berry pie that turned out to be a berry cobbler because, well, “renaming” felt kinder than “failure”? My strong and confident Mom taught me that kitchen trick. I once attempted to write a book but it evolved into something far different, and better, than I could have imagined at the time.

So what do you think about the idea of love languages? Can we really define ourselves in such simple terms? And what difference can it make in our relationship with those around us?

The Lord has used this little paper back dozens of times – probably more – to draw me to Him. I take it on nearly every personal retreat and often throw it in my suitcase when preparing for a vacation. I have read only a few excerpts from some of Tozer’s other books, but this one, The Pursuit of God, has transformed my life. If your heart aches to seek more of God… or if you want that kind of heart, I know of no more motivating book to read.

Recently I was in a circle of new friends who’d just spent the week studying suffering. I came expecting to hear some stories from people who were in the bleak pit of darkness. God promises suffering will happen, and sharing it with others is one of His pathways to healing. But this group had another theme going. It was a night of miracle-telling.

Why do we quickly go to the harsher side of speaking truth? Why doesn’t a “telling-the-truth discussion” head first to the positive? Does it have something to do with the first beautiful Garden and the ones God made in His image?

“What are you waiting for?” It’s a question we tend to ask of others in our moments of impatience. You are in the car behind – the one waiting after the light has turned green. There is a child trying to build up the courage to take her first jump off the high dive, and the question comes from the one behind – the experienced and eager one.

My girlfriend, whose home is almost annoyingly meticulous any day of the week, knew her words would surprise me. They did, and yet I remember the year she kept worms to fertilize the summer’s crops. Seems she’d do about anything to cultivate her wonderful harvest of vegetables, flowers and herbs. And it never seems like work to her.

I remember the first time I visited my future husband’s family. We took our shoes off at the front door. I suppose this isn’t unique in many American families, especially those with light-colored carpets, but this was a requirement based on the mother of the home. She was from Japan, where floors were used for both sleeping and places to sit and eat when she was growing up. Keeping them clean was not just thoughtful. It was an absolute rule.

I forgot I had Windex when I went to the store. Just like I sometimes forget that what I really need is the intimacy of meeting the Lord in His Word. Sometimes it’s as simple as forgetting my “cleaning product” is already close, and effective.