Over the last few years, I have discovered many new authors on Twitter. Jennifer Weiner is one of those authors whose tweets inspired me to try out her writing that is longer than 140 characters at a time. The Half Life, however, isn’t much longer than the amount of writing she does during the average Bachelor/Bachelorette episode. This short story about a woman on the brink of divorce gave me a taste of Weiner’s fiction writing and inspired me to add her longer works to my list of books to investigate. The main character, Piper DeWitt, realizes that her husband is indeed serious about ending their marriage just as she leaves home for a business trip to Paris. When her flight gets postponed due to volcano ash, she takes advantage of the time in limbo to explore what her new life may hold. A intense romantic interlude with a stranger empowers her to forge ahead with the new adventure. Weiner leaves the reader wondering just what will happen with DeWitt and her husband Tosh.

After reading this novelette, I discovered that it was a part of Redbook’s Red-Hot Read series. I do believe that I will try a longer read of Weiner’s in the future. This was such an easy read and engaged me immediately. I continue to enjoy Weiner’s tweets and her wit.

One of my favorite memories of my son’s teenage years is watching The Gilmore Girls together after school. Our love for Lorelai and Rory Gilmore was shared every day in reruns. Lauren Graham will forever be Lorelai Gilmore to me, even though I do enjoy her on Parenthood as well. Imagine my joy as I sat in the waiting room of the CCU in early May and read that Lauren Graham had released a novel. I immediately downloaded Someday, Someday, Maybe onto my Kindle and began reading. Graham writes about a young actress in New York during the 70’s. Of course, I imagined Graham herself as the main character in the novel. Graham seems to have captured the atmosphere of the city during this time. She expresses the struggles of following the passion for acting while maintaining a roof over her head. She details the pressure that her family exerts on her to come home and live a “normal” life as well as the pressure the industry puts upon a young actress to compromise for fame.

This was a perfect book after the more intense Sue Monk Kidd. It was thoroughly enjoyable to walk the streets of NYC with the main character and her colorful cast of cohorts. I was never fearful that she wouldn’t succeed and enjoyed the many missteps that she made. I later read that the storyline may be made into a television show starring the young actress that portrays Graham’s daughter in Parenthood.

We seem to spend a lot of our time waiting – waiting for the next big event, waiting to get thinner, waiting to have more money or fewer bills. People will tell you that you need to live in the moment and not to live always waiting for a better or different time. In a world of instant gratification, we no have less patience for waiting. We send a text and expect an immediate reply. We make a bank deposit and expect immediate access to the funds. We get hungry and expect our food to be instantly ready. Although we’re always waiting, we no longer know how to handle it gracefully. Sue Monk Kidd writes about a time in her life when she knew there was a transformation taking place, but she had to wait and experience it in it’s own time. When the Heart Waits is an intense depiction of this time.

Over the last few years I have been going through a time of transformation myself. This book appealed to me due to the idea of a heart waiting. It was recommended to me by a friend who knew what I was experiencing. As is often the case, I did not read it right away. It wasn’t until a group at our church began to meet on a monthly basis for a book group that I finally chose to read it. Once again, I found myself reading the book club book during a time of crisis for my family. My father had been admitted to CCU for a serious case of meningitis. Not the very best time to read a book about depression. I had read Monk Kidd’s novels and had devoured them quickly. However, this would not be the case with When the Heart Waits. This was a much more difficult read. She touched on life experiences, theological challenges and her own struggles. Although much of the book was beautifully written, it was a great challenge to complete. I must admit that I completed it with much relief. Although there were many great passages, it was difficult to process.

The main thing I got out of the reading is that it’s ok to wait, but it’s also important to not spend your time always waiting. Give yourself permission to be in that moment, but also challenge yourself to look towards the future as well. I’m still waiting. Waiting for my Dad to be healed, waiting for my son to graduate college and get married, waiting to know how God is going to use me in the future. I look forward to all of these things and hope that I am able to experience more of life as the days pass. To use Monk Kidd’s image – I hope that the butterfly that I know I hold inside will emerge from the cocoon soon.

It was once again time to take a break from reading that makes my head hurt and crawl back into some cozies. This time I went to Wilmington, NC with Ellen Elizabeth Hunter and her Magnolia Mystery Series. Hunter has written ten mysteries that center around the historic southern town. Her main character, Ashley Wilkes, is a preservationist who has the misfortune to stumble upon dead bodies. Throughout these books we meet Ashley’s sister, Melanie, a real estate powerhouse. Two different men feature in Ashley’s life – homicide detective Nick Yost and architect/business partner Jon Campbell. Hunter does a wonderful job interweaving southern NC history, architecture of the old homes and the intrigue of mystery. As I read I could smell the magnolia blossoms and the nearby ocean, hear the waves crashing the shore and see the magnificent buildings. She included bits of history reaching back to our earliest days as a country. I love discovering a good series with multiple books already in print. Reading these books took me away from the stress of every day life and gave me a short vacation.

Many times a parent will respond to the question “What do you want your child to do when they grow up?” with the statement “I just want them to be happy.” What is happiness? Is it the same for everyone? Is it a realistic and respectable goal? These are the questions that Gretchen Rubin tackles in The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. Rubin decided to spend a year researching the concept of happiness and strive to increase her own happiness. Early on she determined that setting measurable goals would be essential. She designed a Resolution Chart to keep record of these goals. Each month she focused on areas of her life that she felt would increase her happiness. Beginning with her energy level, marriage and family, Rubin refined the areas in her life that brought her happiness. She found that as her happiness level increased, so did the levels of those closest to her. As the year continued, she returned again and again to the concept of happiness. She found that happiness can be increased by your actions, but that your attitude was most important. She also found that trying to be happy was a lot of work. She determined that being happy is a daily decision.
I found much about this book that appealed to me. Although I do not anticipate setting up a chart to measure my happiness, there are many elements that I can apply to my life. I need to be more deliberate with my goals and ambitions. At this time in my life I do not have a lot of outside responsibilities. It is easy to spend the day reading or watching tv with a puppy on my lap. As much as I thought I would find happiness doing that very thing, I realize that if that’s all I do it loses some of its appeal. I need to fill my “to do” list each day and mark off each item as I accomplish it. This simple act gives me a sense of fulfillment. I need to push my comfort zone and try new things. I probably won’t have a theme for each month, but I will try manageable projects and look for short term opportunities to help others. But most importantly, I will chose each day to be happy. To get up, get moving, is the very first step.

As I continue this journey through my kindle books, I came upon a book recommended by Sarah Bessey on her blog. It is one of the books who shaped her spiritually. The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Woman’s “Work by Kathleen Norris details the way that our society dismisses the every day work that often falls to women in our society. She examine how such “work” can truly be an offering to God. A good friend of mine works as custodian at our church and he often says “worship is work, work is worship” He takes on the mundane work of maintaining our church building as an act of worship. This is the attitude that Norris puts on as she discovers that laundry, cleaning house and doing the dishes can become a type of liturgy.
This book spoke to me during this season of my life as I spend most days at home caring for the house, the dogs and my husband. I am in a waiting time in my life and as I read and reflect I realize that God is using this time to let me rest and renew myself and my spirit. It’s difficult to have your days work wiped out each night and to have to begin again each morning. The high of planning big events and meeting with a variety of people has been replaced with laundry, floors and picking up dog poop. This book reminds me that all I do is an offering to God. It also reminds me to take the time that I have each day to be in God’s creation and notice the beauty. Norris’s writing is beautiful and precise and I enjoyed settling in to this work while reading it.

Years ago a friend recommended that I read Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. I’ve been hooked on her writing ever since. When her newest book Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers came out at the end of 2012, I purchased a hard copy immediately. Now, I tend to read a lot of my books on my Kindles or Apple devices, so purchasing a hard copy indicates an importance that used to not exist. I purchase “real” books when I know it’s one that I want to own, possess, share. As usual, I did not read it right away. A friend from church has been encouraging me to lead a book study group for some time and after the holidays we got together to discuss what that might look like. I knew that I did not want to reread any books since I have so many new books that I want to explore. I looked at my piles of “churchy” books that I have yet to read and picked a dozen or so that might be good for a wide range of ages and theological backgrounds. I knew right away that Lamott’s newest would be the perfect pick for our first book. When I introduced the book to our group I had only read the introduction. I was a little surprised to realize that not everyone was drawn to her writing in the way that I am. I was a bit discouraged to think that I may have been off base in my choice.
However, after a great discussion about reading with an open mind and an open heart everyone went home to begin reading. I must admit I have a difficult time writing in books. Must be left over from being the daughter of a librarian. Therefore, I did not read the rest of the book until the weekend before our next meeting. This time frame coincided with my father’s neck surgery and I found the readings exceptionally comforting.
I just love the way Lamott writes. Her words just resonate with me in every way. She is brutally honest and shows great respect for the reader. In this book she breaks down prayer into three simple categories. So many times I hear people say that they struggle with prayer. When this is the case, I think they must be working too hard at it, or maybe are putting too many qualifications into their prayers. It’s as simple as she says – Help Thanks Wow. Ask for God’s help by being authentic in what your needs are. You can’t hide anything from God, so why pretend. Then be thankful for all that you’ve been blessed with. Even in the darkest time there are things to be thankful for. As long as you have breath you can be thankful. Then WOW! Relish in the beauty of creation and just enjoy with praise.
When we met again as a group to discuss Lamott’s work, I was thrilled to learn that everyone in the group enjoyed the book. Those who are comfortable writing in their books came back with ink filled copies. Our discussion was energetic and left us ready to tackle the next book.

Lent has taken on a different mood for me since I stopped working in paid ministry at our church. For many years Lent meant pancake suppers, special studies, getting ready for Holy Week, gathering eggs for the Easter bunny, Good Friday rehearsal and sprucing up the building for the big day. After a frantic Christmas season and a busy January, I needed to reboot my Spiritual discipline with Lent. Several years ago I had downloaded Chris Seay’s Lenten study, A Place at the Table: 40 Days of Solidarity with the Poor. I opened it on my Kindle a few days into Lent and started the daily practice of reading these reflections and prayers. Seay has a heart for the hungry and this study challenges the reader to devote the 40 days of Lent to eating along with the hungriest in our world. A type of fast, he asks the reader to eat simple meals of rice, beans and other grains. I did not follow this part of the devotional, but did spend time reflecting on my abundance and how I treat my blessings. Seay weaves scripture and personal refections together to remind the reader of the meaning of preparing ourselves for the coming of Easter. Each day he lifted up someone in a third world country and the way that ministries are helping them through education, clean water and other proactive help. I wish that I had chosen to follow the fast. Food is such an important part of my life and I feel that a sacrificial act would be to give up the wonderful tastes that I experience on a daily basis. There is a lot in this devotional that challenged me to be more diligent in my diet, my spending and my prayer. It helped me stay grounded in the season despite upheavals in my daily life during this time.

There’s just something about a free or very inexpensive book that I find difficult to resist. When Francis Chan’s two books were offered for free Kindle download, I took advantage of the deal. I had read Crazy Love early on and although Chan is quite different theologically than me I got some good nuggets out of it. I hoped that the next two would be the same.

Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit tackles the complicated existence of the Holy Spirit. Chan begins with the assertion that Christians in the American church have left the Holy Spirit out of the process. Of course, I’m sure Chan has not visited every church in the USA, but he still feels confident in make assessments about their vitality. Then Chan delves into Scripture to prove his assertions about the existence of the Holy Spirit and the way the Holy Spirit works. Immediately I had issues. Chan states that the Holy Spirit is a male person that inhibits our bodies once we invite “him” in. I struggled throughout the book for a variety of reasons, but the essential nugget is that we do not engage the Holy Spirit as fully as we should and that our lives and churches would be more vital if we did so. I had actually been focusing on this for Lent and was able to pull out what I think the Holy Spirit was telling me through this work.

Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We’ve Made Up was even more of a struggle for me. Chan’s writing is erratic and frantic and the entire work seems forced. In the introduction, he presents the idea that he was open to whatever he learned during this study of what God says about hell and hoped in fact to find out it doesn’t exist. The results do not reflect this assertion. He drew conclusions that I did not feel were logical in many cases. He claims that Scripture is inspired by God and has all authority, but does not hesitate to bring in other sources when what Jesus is attributed as saying does not prove his point strongly enough. He reacts so strongly to Rob Bell’s work Love Wins that it is a distraction. I’m still struggling with the emotions that this work stirred in me. I understand the fear that I and/or people I love may spend eternity in hell. However, I feel so strongly that God is all powerful and capable that I do not think God is bound by anything written in Scripture. This may be where I differ most from Chan. God is God. The Bible is not God. God can do whatever God wants and however God wants. I trust God and put my trust in God. My biggest issue with preachers like Chan (aside from his extreme arrogance) is that my experience is that if we really want people to come to know and love God we will love them where they are, how they are. We will not use hell to scare them to God. Even though Chan claims to struggle with the same practice, he then turns around and uses it in his writing.

When my son saw that I had these two books on my Kindle, he expressed great frustration with me. I understand that by reading these works I may appear to be validating Chan’s ideas. But I strive to remain open as possible to ideas that differ from my own. I think that only through education and exposure can I really claim what I believe. However, the next few churchy books will not be these types. I long to delve in writing that brings me comfort for awhile.

One of the Scriptures that always speaks to me is Matthew 25:31-46. In this passage, it is said that at the appointed time God/Jesus will sit upon the throne and sort people based on how they treated “the least of these” or as The Message says “someone overlooked or ignored.” I think this passage strikes me because it is so counter intuitive based on what the American way teaches. Instead of relying on everyone to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” we are instructed to nourish, house, clothe and visit those who society overlooks and ignores. Annie Vocature Bullock discusses this very issue in her book Real Austin: The Homeless and the Image of God.  When writing this book, Annie reflects on her family’s decision to live in an area of town where Austin Weird is personafied. Part of that decision dictates that the family uses public transportation. It’s during these travels on the town bus system that Annie is confronted with the reality of the homeless. Idealogically she desires a relationship with the people that she encounters, but reality causes her to fear them and her own reaction to them. Annie reflects on her spiritual growth as a Christian that has led her to this place and the challenge of living out her faith amongst the “least of these.” Her struggle is honest and specific. She realizes that her childhood experiences make this struggle even more difficult. Having lived with a loved one who has a mental illness, she understands the erratic life that is a result. As I usually do with these types of books, I found myself longing for more of her personal e