Summer reading

I got myself reading glasses two or three years ago and there has not been a day when I haven't been thankful for them.  It is truly miraculous to be able to read print so easily.  But clearly in the time I've had them I haven't read lots and lots.  How do I know?  Because this holidays I read a vast amount and the bridge of my nose where my glasses sit is slightly tender.  But so worth it.  It has been a joyous time with so many good books.

 

 

This summer's reading commenced with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  I have declared this to be the best novel of 2015, which is a big call so early into the year. Harold receives a letter from Queenie, a friend and work colleague from many years previous, letting him know she is dying and is thankful for his many kindnesses shown to her all those years ago.  In shock, he pens a quick letter back and sets off to post it.  When he reaches the mail box, deep in thought and memory, he isn't quite ready to let his letter go and head home so he decides to walk to the next letter box, and then the next and then the next...and ultimately he walks the entire length of England from south to north, to deliver the letter in person.  But does he make it in time?  This is a tale about a journey, reflection, atonement, transitions, moving on. 

 

 

I read The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, the companion volume to Harold's story, straight after.  This is Queenie's story, told while Harold is making his pilgrimage.  The benefit of reading them back to back is to see the extremely cleverly crafted parallel journey they take.  The downside is that this story is grittier and it takes away some of the innocence of its companion volume...although the truly innocent characters remain innocent in both.  I am a sucker for books that tell the same story from different points of view but given my time again I would probably give myself six months gap between volumes.

 

 

Speaking of telling the same story from different points of view, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd is the story of Sarah, a white American, and Handful, her black African slave given to Sarah on her 11th birthday.  Both are of similar age.  The story commences in the early 1800s - a time when intelligence in women and racial differences were not honoured.  (That is putting it positively...)  The story spans their lives, told in the first person alternating chapter by chapter between Sarah and Handful, with some delightful twists and surprises for the reader especially towards the end.  It doesn't make for easy reading at times - it is difficult subject matter - but Sue Monk Kidd has an astonishingly large and elegant vocabulary and her turn of phrase time and again was breathtaking - and it was her beautiful command of the English language that kept me turning the pages especially in the more torrid sections.   Very worthwhile reading.

 

And then Lila.  For anyone else who loves reading the same story from a different point of view and loves a novel by Marilynne Robinson, this one ticks all the boxes and more.  Companion volume to Gilead and Home, it felt like a sad book at times but at the same time full of hope, light and blessing too. A tale of transitions from harsh life to gentle life.

 

 

Us reads like a cheery, chatty blog with short, cheery chapters.   Douglas (54) is married to Connie and they have one son named Albie (18).  Douglas and Connie plan to take Albie on a Grand Tour of Europe to see all the great works of art before he heads off to university.  It ends up being a grand tour in which Douglas seeks to save his marriage and reconnect with his increasingly distant son.  If you love art and Europe this is a fun read.  I admit that it was losing me at Amsterdam - which is the cleverness of the writing because Nicholls captures the hallmark elements of each location with each change of scenery - and I only held on because Italy (ah, bell'Italia) was approaching.  But I found my happy place in Italy and the novel finished well.  It was fun.  I would like to get One Day from the library and have a read some time soon.

 

 

Speaking of wanting to read more of a particular author, I haven't read any Bill Bryson before but it won't be too long before I put his book Down Under (and maybe even some others by him) on reserve at the library.  At Home.  This is not a novel.  It's a history book.  And it's fantastic.  I haven't finished it yet.  Bryson takes the reader on a tour of his home - a rectory in Engand - room by room, recounting the history of domestic life.  Things like why we even have rooms - a relatively recent thing historically speaking - for starters.  Things like why we have salt and pepper on our tables and not some other spice, why forks have four tines, a history of lighting and electricity in houses.  Windows.  How did houses come to have windows?  Sounds a bit dry?  I do it no justice.  This books is a laugh out loud (and I generally laugh on the inside when I am reading but not with this one) and fascinating page turner.  The best I can say is that of the eight books I read this summer, this is one of three that I own - not reading this from the library - and it is one I am very pleased to be able to keep on my shelf and share with my friends.

 

I stopped At Home for a few days because my request at the library for The Rosie Effect, the sequel to The Rosie Project, came up.  (And At Home is a book you can comfortably pick up and put down without losing the momentum.)  The Rosie Project is a fun read and so is this - good for holidays  although you know how sequels are often never quite as good...  Compared with The Rosie Project the plot in this one is busy, which is structurally right given the move from single man living and working in Australia to married man living and working in New York.  Mix Apserger Syndrome (fairly high end) into the equation and you get the idea.  The book captures the changes perfectly.  Chaotic at times but it all came together in a very satisfying way in the end.

At one stage I was in between books, waiting for The Rosie Effect to come up on reserve at the library and for At Home to arrive in the mail, so I pulled The Happiest Refugee off the shelf where we were staying.  Ahn Do is a Vietnamese refugee, family man and actor/comedian/author.  The Happiest Refugee shows life as a refugee (what life was like before escaping, the horrible, horrible escape and what life is like in a new country with few rights and no resources) in a light way.  Enough to get a very clear sense of what it is like to be a refugee without leaving the reader having nightmares - enough to engender empathy and response without being paralysed by the horror and with plenty to entertain along the way.  And Ahn Do shows gratitude in action.  Good work Ahn Do.  He also has a series of kids books - the Weir Do series - that does the same thing for children and our boys loved them.

But for now, it's back to At Home for me.

Why it has taken me this long to read Jane Eyre

So, I have recently read Jane Eyre.  For the first time.  Could it be the perfect novel?  I loved reading through the Jane Austens last year - and there are definitely three of them that I will go back to at some stage - but is one allowed to like Jane Eyre better than Jane Austen? 

I knew this story well having watched it in various versions and I've practically memorised every inch of the BBC miniseries from 2006.  But the novel...  What can I say?  What a beautiful read.  I want to read it again.  Straight away.  Which is unheard of for me.

My recent enthusiasm for J.E. did raise the question amongst at least a couple of my friends as to how I'd got this far without having read it until now.  Well, I blame it on 1986.  And 1985.

High school was full of required reading and it was during this time that I read Tolkien for the first time.  After that I went to university to learn to be a teacher, but did an Arts degree alongside that qualification.  I recall standing in the queue at enrolling time, still undecided about whether to take literature or history.  I was one person from the front of the desk when I ticked the literature box.  That was the mistake for 1985 because had I done my research I would have discovered that my chosen university didn't take a particularly classical approach to literature.  They were more into feminism at the more radical end of the spectrum and Freud.

In 1986 I enrolled in a year long unit call The Theory of the Novel (mistake number two) which involved one novel a week, starting with Don Quixote and finishing with whatever what modern at the time, all viewed through a Freudian lens.  Oh joy.  Not.  In addition I took another unit each semester which also had a reading requirement of one novel per week.  That's two novels a week.  I ended up reading  the novels I needed for essays and tutorials in full and otherwise, lots of first chapters, last chapters, random middle chapters, introductions and journal articles, learning to chip in with some intelligent comment based on my limited reading early on in the tutorial before the discussions got beyond me.  And I learned to hate reading.

In 1987 I only had two more units to complete my literature requirements and I chose poetry because poems are much shorter than novels.  And the lecturer was old school.  Not sure how he came to have a job at this particular university but I was sure glad to have found him.

After that I became a Christian and so I read the Bible and Christian books.  I added professional reading to that and the newspaper to keep up with current affairs then eventually I dipped my toe tentatively back into the pool of fiction, starting with Brideshead Revisited.  Mostly I read whatever was good and current.  All the Pretty Horses, The English Patient and Captain Corelli's Mandolin spring to mind.  There was a Thomas Hardy phase at some stage.

Then all that stopped and suddenly I was reading books about how to care for babies and how to live with toddlers and how to force said toddlers into eating vegetables.  I like Christopher Green's take on baby and toddler wrangling the best, for what it is worth. And I read recipe books.  And magazine articles because my concentration span had shrunk to nothing.

And so I missed the classics - the ones that were not covered in high school at any rate - and as it transpires, that is fine.  Because there are so many wonderful books for me to read now.  And I am very happy about that.

Thank you Ms Austen

Done.

Delightful.

 

Stephen and the books I've been reading

I find the stories of Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Korea and that unlikely convert are still roaming around my mind.

Last Sunday I covered the two chapters in Acts about Stephen in Sunday School - how and why he was chosen, that magnificent speech and then his persecution and horrible death.  We spent most of the lesson talking about persecution - and what a blessing it is to live here in freedom and safety. 

I could have illustrated the idea of persecution with anecdotes from Afghanistan or North Korea but in the interests of developmental appropriateness I told the story of how a Chinese couple under threat of persecution prayed the Lord's Prayer instead.  These two, they sat together, held hands and prayed the Lord's Prayer in their minds, too scared to even whisper the words in case someone heard them, squeezing one another's hand at the beginning of each new line.  That way they knew they were praying the words of the prayer together.  And we had a go at it ourselves.   

But I am always gripped by the last two verses of Stephen's story.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."  When he had said this, he fell asleep.  And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.
Acts 7:59,60

It is the mark of a life of deeply faithful, prayerful, loving devotion to God that one faces a violent death by praying for the perpetrators of the awful crime.  I find myself continuing to think about how it isn't ours to decide upon the extent of the reach of the gospel.  Stephen didn't.  He prayed that God would forgive those who were so angrily and awfully ending his life.  He was praying for their salvation.

And then there is Saul, standing there, giving his approval to Stephen's death.  No-one would dare go near Saul with the good news of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ for fear of similar treatment.  And yet, Saul's world was turned upside down soon after and then he proceeded to turn the gentile world upside down with the good news of Jesus. 

These verses take my breath away.  They encourage me to keep digging where the ground is hard.  And to keep praying for those doing hard yards in hard places.  It's not our decision.  And with God, all things are possible.

And this summer's reading

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.  Brilliant.  Looking forward to reading it again at some stage.  In the meantime, if anyone local wants to borrow my copy, let me know.

Which prompted me to reread Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.  It's still good.

And then there was Jane Austen.  I received this gorgeous anthology for Christmas. 

I have watched lots of films and television series of Jane Austen adaptations as well as various spin offs.  But as it happens I haven't ever read any of her actual words.  I should have read Emma at university but that particular course operated at the rate of a one novel per week for the whole year alongside another unit I was doing that also involved reading a novel each week (and not the same novel) - and so Emma was one that slipped through the net.  (Not much to contribute during that tutorial.)  This anthology presents JA's novels in order of their publication.  So far I have read Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.  Turns out that I serendipitously read the closing chapters of P&P on day of its 200th anniversary.  Currently reading Mansfield Park.  It did take me a while to settle into her style but I am happily there now and looking forward to the rest.  (And you know that you have settled into the style when you spontaneously answer your husband's text message, "Can you come and get me now?" with "We shall set out soon.")

I also reread How to Really Love your Child by Ross Campbell.  Interestingly I came upon some details that didn't sit all that comfortably on this second read through.  However they were just details and in essence I still think this book is excellent.  It was definitely worth reading through it again and I am glad to be reminded of all the good principles held therein.  I will be reading this annually until such time as I need to be reading How to Really Love Your Teenager annually instead, which in fact is not that far off in one case.

a) and/or b)

I'm conscious of the fact that everytime I write a book review on this blog I say

a) I really loved this book, or

b) words to that effect.

The thing is, because

a) I am not famous, and

b) this blog isn't famous

it means that no-one sends me books to review.  And I am glad about that because if they did

a) I would have to read the books people sent me, and

b) then I would have to review them.

And if I didn't particularly

a) like them, or

b) agree with them

I would need to say so in order to

a) be honest, and

b) maintain my integrity.

So it will be that everytime I review a book I will say

a) I really loved this book, or

b) words to that effect

because I only ever read books that

a) have come highly recommended to me by people whose opinion I trust, or

b) I have stumbled upon myself and think they look good

For those moments when I read

a) novels, and

b) this goes for non fiction too

 I will only read the books

a) that have come highly recommended, or

b) that have captured my imagination within the first quarter or so of the book

because

a) reading time is precious and hard won, and

b) life is too short to read bad books.

So I am thinking that I should change the my label on such posts from

a) BOOK REVIEWS, to

b) BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

because any book mentioned on this blog will be accompanied by the words

a) I really loved this book, or

b) words to that effect

and I will be mentioning it by way of

a) warm commendation, and

b) not with a view to criticising it.

So

a) happy reading, and

b) just thought you should know.

JI Packer - my new best friend

I was finding it a bit hard to settle into a new book after finishing Knowing God.  I'd been hoping that my copy of 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know, another book by JI Packer, would arrive in time to coincide with coming to the end of Knowing God.  The postpak that should have contained 18 Words arrived in good time, but with the wrong book.  Messages sent back and forth, apology accepted and a new copy in the post to catch that day's mail - and yesterday it arrived in my letterbox.

So after a month of fairly random reading I was straight into the introduction.  Imagine my delight then when I read these opening words:

Keys open doors;  keywords open minds, and through minds hearts.  This book takes keywords from the Bible - terms, we may truly say, from God's own vocabulary - and spells out in a particular way some of the main thoughts linked with them.  The goal is understanding, faith and wisdom.

Deep, contented sigh.  Very happy.

The Book Depository

The Book Depository is an online bookstore that markets books at extraordinarily good prices and doesn't charge postage!  And it runs an affiliate scheme.

What does that mean?

It means that if you buy your books at the The Book Depository and happen to go to their site via my blog then I get a 5% credit for the books you purchase.

How does it work?

All you have to do is visit my blog on your way to the bookstore and while you are here you click on the Book Depository button on my sidebar.  That will take you to The Book Depository site.  Then you do your own shopping in the normal way and 5% of the sum of your purchase is credited to me.  It doesn't cost you anything extra.

Why would you do it?

Well, as it turns out, I checked my shopping history at The Book Depository and of the nearly 30 books I have purchased there I've only kept two for myself.  The rest have all been gifts.  And most of them bear the titles
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus,
Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,
Be Still, My Soul and
Valley of Vision. 

So my intention in joining this affiliate scheme is not to profit from your book shopping and plan a holiday for myself in Tuscany but rather to increase my capacity to give away more great books like these to lots more people.  The Key to the Door is a not for profit organisation!!  Who knows, I may even give the odd book away right here on this blog!  So if you would like to help me out, please make your travels to The Book Depository site via this blog and click on the Book Depository button in the sidebar.

What if you you are not comfortable with this?

Some will not be comfortable with this and that is fine.  If that is you then please ignore this, do your Book Depository shopping by going to their site directly and still be my friend.  Forget I ever mentioned it.  :-)

Advent 2010 #1 - Reading Material

Today is the first Sunday in Advent.  Christmas is coming.

My ideal Christmas would probably involved sending and receiving Christmas cards - because despite the bad press they get, I think they are a lovely way to show gratitude for the year past, express hope for the year to come and remind people of the joy it is to celebrate the birth of our precious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ - and then on Christmas day, go to church and catch up with the family for a cup of tea and a mince pie or two. 

Of course it isn't that straight forward.   There are lots of extras.  And in amongst all the extras I find it all too easy to take my eye off the ball.  I lose my focus on Jesus.

So this year, while our boys are reading through the first 24 or 25 chapters of The Jesus Story Book for their Advent calendar readings, I am looking forward to reading my way through Come Thou Long Expected Jesus - a book of 22 readings focussing on the events of the Christmas story, mostly excerpts from longer pieces penned by the greats of old (Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Charles Spurgeon) through to the modern greats (John Piper, Time Keller and JI Packer) and lots in between.  The list of writers is impressive and the chapters are short.  Perfect! 

I came upon this little book from the good reviews it received here, here and here and have had it tucked away in my bookshelf for most of the year, waiting for December to arrive.  I am looking forward to catching a few minutes every day for a chapter of this book with a cup of tea, praying that it will help me to keep my eye on the ball and give Right perspective to the unusual amount of activity that this time of year seems to generate. 

And I hope it lives up to expectation because I have given away about eight copies during the year for birthday presents - so quite a number of my friends will be reading along too.  But for now, I'm off to church and after that I'd better go and dig out the boys' Advent calendar and get that ready for the 1st December!

Less is More

John Piper says,

I [do not] want to give the impression that I think there is virtue in reading many books. In fact one of my greatest complaints in seminary was that professors trained students in bad habits of superficial reading because they assigned too many books. I agree with Spurgeon: “A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books which he has merely skimmed, lapping at them.” God save us from the allurement of “keeping up with Pastor Jones” by superficial skimming. Forget about “keeping up.” It only feeds pride and breeds spiritual barrenness. Instead devote yourself to boring in and going deep. There is so much soul-refreshing, heart-deepening, mind-enlarging truth to be had from great books!

I actually think that for some people this point is not true.  I know a few people who can devour a lot of material quickly and then process and retain what they read effectively.  In fact I am married to one such person.  But for me, Piper's quote rings true and is an encouragement.  I read pretty slowly and I don't seem to be able to make a lot of time for reading in any case.  So to choose a few really good books and read them slowly and carefully works for me.

From John Piper's Brothers, We are Not Professionals
HT: Desiring God blog

Lists too Good not to Share # 2 - Reading

Until February I am only posting on Mondays and will be showcasing some helpful lists I found on other people's blogs during 2009.
The series is called "Lists too Good not to Share."
I have received full and direct permission to reproduce these lists here from the owners of the blogs who originally featured them.

Did one of your New Year's resolutions have something to do with reading? Reading more? Or getting started on some solid reading perhaps? Two weeks into the new year is your resolve weakening?

Here is an inspiring list all about reading that encourages and enthuses - a distillation by Justin Taylor from Between Two Worlds of some longer posts by one Professor Bruce Ashford.

On “what” to read:

1. Guard your time in the Scriptures.
2. Avoid limiting yourself by era, tribe, or category.
3. Reading the great authors is more helpful than reading a great number of books.
4. Make a list of categories and read a selected number of books each year, in each category.
5. Read a few select journals and magazines.

On “how” to read:

1. If you would like to become a disciplined reader, you probably need to make a plan.
2. Figure out your “reading style.”
3. Always carry a book.
4. If possible, drink and read at the same time.

On “why” to read, suggesting that reading does the following:

1. Sharpens the mind.
2. Exercises the mind.
3. Gives one something about which to converse.
4. Allows one to “travel” to other times and places.
5. Reduces stress.
6. Provides an inexpensive and low maintenance form of entertainment.

Doesn't that make you want to make a cup of tea and find a good book? To that end, I have updated my reading list for 2010 on my sidebar. Now, where is that book?

The Tyranny of Fiction

My reading time is mostly at bed time. I try to read for about fifteen minutes – sometimes it is more and sometimes it is less. In between volumes one and two of The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzales, I read a lovely novel – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.

I noticed (once again - this is not new) that when I am reading non fiction I read for shorter lengths of time. This is not because the subject matter is boring. It just takes more concentration and at the end of the day I run out of steam more quickly. This has the built in benefit of turning out the light and going to sleep in reasonable time for a fresh start in the morning.

Fiction however is easier to read. I read more. The nights become later. Then it becomes harder to get up in the morning. The morning quiet time becomes compromised. In the end I decide to read at length, in part because I can't resist a good plot, but more so just to get the novel finished so that routine and order can be restored.

So there is nothing for it but to make the decision to limit fiction to the times when we are away on holidays…and I know exactly what I am going to read when we go away later in the year…for the next year or two until our boys are bigger/more independent and the days free up a little.

Which feels OK.

As I said, the source of my literary distraction this time was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is an epistolary novel. No surprises that I would love a novel crafted entirely from letters.

This one is a delight. Set just after World War II, it is the correspondence between Juliet Ashton, a writer from London, and the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – and then later between Juliet and her friends in London, as she finds herself in Guernsey meeting the recipients of her earlier letters. It is a gentle, quietly humorous read with gorgeous characters, based on life in German occupied Guernsey during the war.

Here is a glimpse, with some sage advice for would be writers.

Dear Sidney,

Elizabeth's cottage was plainly built for an exalted guest, because it's quite spacious. There is a big sitting room, a bathroom, a larder and a huge kitchen downstairs. There are three bedrooms, and best of all, there are windows everywhere, so the sea air can sweep into every room.

I've shoved a writing table by the biggest window in my sitting room. The only flaw in this arrangement is the constant temptation to go outside and walk over to the cliff edge. The sea and the clouds don’t stay the same for five minutes running and I'm frightened I’ll miss something if I stay inside. When I got up this morning, the sea was full of sun pennies – and now it seems to be covered in lemon scrim. Writers ought to live far inland or next to the city dump if they are ever to get any work done, Or perhaps they need to be stronger-minded than I am. *

Sadly this is a one-off as the author died just before the book was published. It's well worth a read – I'd highly recommend it – but only if it isn't going to do a mischief to the good routines of your daily life!

* The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer p. 161

Five Reasons Why I Like to Read Church History

I love history. And it won't be any surprise that church history is of particular interest to me. Here are five reasons why.

1. The first time I read through an overview of the history of the church (2000 years thus far) my overwhelming thought was, "It is a miracle that the church has survived." As much as the church has been carried along, under God, by faithful men and women, so also have other men and women done their best to see its undoing. Were the church a human construct, it simply wouldn't have survived. The church is truly God's church. To read church history is to see evidence that God is sovereign. And that is a great blessing. Praise be to God.

2. Reading about periods of time when Christians were persecuted is a painful exercise. But the fact remains, there were large chunks of time when Christians endured horrendous persecution for their faith. I am reminded that by God's grace I live in a time and place where persecution is not an issue and I'm inspired to make good use of the peace I enjoy to grow in my relationship with God, to see others come to know Him, to help bring those who know Him to maturity and to pray for those who do not enjoy the freedoms I enjoy – who are enduring persecution even now as I sit here and type.

3. As I take part in a church service it is helpful to discover that many elements of the service were hard fought for in order to get them as right (that is, not heretical) as humanly possible. The words and actions that I am tempted to take for granted each have a history of their own and when I know where these elements have come from and why I am saying and doing the things I do in church, my understanding and appreciation of what happens in church each week is greatly heightened.

4. Church history is, in part, about twenty centuries of theologians working hard to keep the bar high, straight and true. I am thankful to God for their work. And I am thankful to God for our 21st century theologians who are working hard to do the same thing and who will be in the history books in fifty and a hundred years time. Good leaders and good theologians need our constant prayer.

5. Church history is also about the ordinary people. It is fascinating to read how ordinary people reacted to the big events of each century. And exciting to realise that we too are the ordinary people reacting to the big events of our times. Justo Gonzales says in the introduction of "The Story of Christianity Volume One",

When we study the life and work of past generations, and when we interpret it, we are doing history. But we must remember that future generations will read about our times as past history. In that sense, like it or not, both by our action and by our inaction, we are making history. This is both an exhilarating opportunity and an awesome responsibility, and it demands that we do history in order to be able to make it more faithfully.
If you love Jesus, reading through the history of the church at least once in your lifetime will be time well spent. If you haven't done any study in church history, be encouraged to have a tilt. It won't be time wasted.

Words of Encouragement - Spiritual Disciplines

I have read Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes many times. In fact, I used to read it once a year and each year I would be affirmed and encouraged by certain chapters and receive a hearty rebuke from others. Each year the affirmation and the rebukes shifted around the different chapters as my circumstances changed.

"Spiritual disciplines" is a bit of a loaded phrase. It fills some with delight, it causes others to roll their eyes, it causes many to cross the line from grace to works and plunges the perfectionist and the legalist to despair. But this book is beautifully written – firmly founded in the grace of God, in the saving work of Christ and not in our own feeble attempts and endeavours. It is not about working our way to salvation. It is about seeing our relationship with God grow.

The following paragraph is from the first chapter and it is the first thing I have underlined in a book (except my Bible which is growing in underlinings with each passing day!) since I left university. For one whose primary love language is acts of service and who therefore often veers towards works and not grace and who could veer towards legalism if left to her own devices, I have found this framing of the spiritual disciplines powerfully helpful. To my fellow would be (or should I say, don't want to be) legalists, I hope you find these words an encouragement.

Many of us think of spiritual discipline in terms of 'living the letter of the Law' or as a series of draconian rules that no-one could possible live up to. Such legalism seems to us a path to frustration and spiritual death. But true discipline is a far cry from legalism – thank God! The difference lies in motivation: Legalism is self-centred; discipline is God-centred. The legalistic heart says, 'I will do this thing to gain merit with God.' The disciplined heart says, 'I will do this because I love God and I want to please Him.' The true heart of discipline is relationship – a relationship with God.

Whether you are a legalist or not, I highly recommend this whole book – if you are a woman. And if you are man lurking here (welcome!) Barbara's husband Kent has written the companion volume Disciplines of a Godly Man. And Disciplines of a Godly Family is also an excellent read. So something for everyone!!

Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes page 14

Another Compelling Case for Reading a Book!

A while ago I stumbled upon the article Is Google Making us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr. It starts like this:

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after. Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets’reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link.

The bottom line? The internet is a wonderful tool however we move around it quickly. We can find what we need with great speed. And if we start reading something and it doesn't meet our need or hold our interest then there is always another website to visit - and off we go! Cage looks at the long term effect of this style of reading/operating and while it is anecdotal at present (there is no hard research on the effect of the constant use of the internet on brain function but wow! - there are a few PhDs there!!) he suggests that at best it is changing the way we think and at worst it is flattening our capacity to think and certainly to concentrate.

Now I know my capacity to concentrate has been seriously deteriorating over the last few years. First there were the pregnancy hormones (although I am not entirely convinced of this as an excuse at least for myself) and then there was the baby fog (that was real!). But in truth a good part of my loss of brain function is simply because I haven't exercised it and it has just become very unfit.

This is one of many reasons why I started this blog - to do something new, to stretch myself, to connect a few new synapses in my brain and reconnect a few that became disconnected along the way.

So now I am going to start reading again. I will start small with a modest reading list both in quantity and content because I know that if I am over ambitious (when it comes to matters of fitness, be that of brain or body) then failure will surely follow. And I will build up slowly. The trick as always will be to approach this in a godly fashion, to set suitable boundaries and to work on not adding more to the agenda to the detriment of the core stuff that needs to be maintained and done well. I will keep you posted!

And the great irony of the "Is Google Making us Stupid?" article? For an article on the internet it was extremely long and took considerable concentration to read. I'd be certain the irony was not lost on Nicholas Carr.

Head and Heart

Earlier this year Jean (her blog "in all honesty" is always worth reading) inspired me to start reading again - something more substantial than parenting and recipe books. I got off to a great start but my good resolve fizzled out.

There are lots of reasons why it all fizzled out:

* not wishing to encroach upon my precious time for reading the Bible,
* a reading list that was too ambitious in length which then overwhelmed me,
* reading choices that were too ambitious in content that overwhelmed my unfit brain,
* being too busy (or is that not enough discipline to make the time to do it??) to fit it in,
* not doing it for 21 days in a row (because apparently it takes 21 uninterrupted days to form a habit).

The centrepiece of my list of excuses includes the admission of an unfit brain. (I have carefully kept it that way to match my unfit body!!) And I am going to think about brain fitness next time (if I can concentrate for long enough!!!)

But on the 23rd March Dr John Piper had this to say on his Desiring God blog:

This is a plea that all of you would build into your lives both personal devotions and purposeful study of God’s word.

Both: Daily prayerful meditation seeking personal application of God’s word to your own heart and life.

And: Regular study in a class or with a book where the (living or dead) teacher has seen more than you have and can give you insight in 30 minutes that might otherwise take you ten years to see.

The reason I plead for both is that without a book or a class about what some part of the Bible means and a teacher who is ahead of you, your devotions will probably flatten out at a low level of insight.

Year after year you will go over the same biblical ground and find it as perplexing as before. There will be little advance in understanding. This will tend to take the heart out of devotional reading, because the lack of growth cannot sustain the joy.

Seek out preaching, books, and classes which take you further in grasping what various books and texts in the Bible mean.

Well, I am encouraged to have another go at doing both - devotional Bible reading and also serious reading about the Bible - which means making a plan to do the purposeful study. Most of the books that were on the previous over ambitious list were about the purposeful study of the Bible. So I think I just need to choose more carefully and keep the list short to begin with.

And there is more encouragement to be had for those who need an extra push. Here are some encouraging ways to get into devotional reading and here is another piece of inspiration to pursue serious reading in a SMALL way - which I was VERY pleased to read - which will ease an unfit brain into tackling print matter again. Because reading IS a joy and I am not actually doing this to punish myself.