A poetic stack of my favorite books.

I shared this originally, on instagram, as part of a #spinepoetrychallenge—using the words and title phrases on the spine of selected books to create a poem—led by friends in Exhale Creativity. What started as a fun, simple creative exercise turned into a thought-provoking display of different themes and personalities. I loved reading the other “spine poems” on my feed—even when books titles overlapped, the final outcome was unique. My own stack includes books written by my favorite authors and books on home decor and design, capturing my aesthetic and personality in both words and image.

it’s not supposed to be this way.

these bittersweet, barbarian days,

slouching towards Bethlehem,

toward all the light we cannot see.

we desire to live present over perfect, 

no longer uninvited to

a moveable feast, of bread & wine.

you are made for living.

come matter here.

savor.

make life beautiful. 

live with color.

live with pattern.

word by word,

you are made for this—

a long obedience in the same direction.

If you’re in need of a creative boost, start with your bookshelf. I can’t wait to see what you stack—tag me on instagram!

Affiliate disclosure: this post contains links where, if you purchase, I will receive a small commission. I promise that only link to items that I own, love, and wholeheartedly recommend.

January as Baseline.

SETTING BASELINE (PRACTICE STARTS HERE).

All the memes about January were true. January felt like it was 200 days long, and at the start of February, I got rocked by the flu and was completely out of commission for a weekend. 

So this is how I’m starting February: feeling both behind on the month and a little shocked that we’re only into the second month of 2020. When I finally got around to debriefing this past month, this is what I noted:

I practiced centering prayer 11 times, wrote for 20 minute sessions or longer for 14 days, read with the boys for 20 minutes or longer for 15 days, did 17 workouts on the Peloton or outside, and had 23 morning quiet times. Honestly, my immediate response was to be bummed out by those numbers. The goal was to hit 31 for each of those five habits, and I fell short.

Then I thought, this is baseline.

Outside of Peloton, which tracks your streaks for you, I had never actually tracked any of these particular habits. This was baseline – the starting point from which you compare your progress – and the exciting thing about baseline is that usually, it’s all up from there.

I click with pretty much everything James Clear writes, but I especially resonated with his statement: “Consistency develops ability.” Or, said by Gretchen Rubin: “What we do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” 

I’m working on it.

The good news is that there are still eleven months left in this year, starting with February. January was baseline, and there’s still room for practice and progress.

We get to try again.

PERSPECTIVES (BOOKS, PODCASTS, POSTS)

Books – I read three books: Loveology; Dance, Stand, Run; and The Family Upstairs. 

Loveology by John Mark Comer is the best book on marriage I’ve read so far. He connects the purpose of marriage with work and calling in a compelling way, and both his presentation and coverage feels very millenial, in a good way.

Podcasts – My first favorite was the Fight Hustle, End Hurry ten-podcast series. John Mark Comer’s explanations of the spiritual disciplines made total sense to me. For the past weekends of the year, our family has been practicing Sabbath (and I’ve added a digital Sabbath), and now I’m so much more sensitive and aware of when I’m not giving people I love my full attention. 

The second podcast favorite was the She Reads Truth episode “Rivals & Restoration” about Jacob and Rachel and Leah. I think sometimes we glaze over the drama of the Old Testament as arcane or exceptional, and we forget that what makes us human hasn’t changed, and the character of God hasn’t changed either.

Posts – James Clear’s Habit Guide is the cliff notes version of Atomic Habits. Both have been hugely helpful for me, as I work on my goals for this year. For February, I’m working on “never missing twice.”

Speaking of never missing twice, the 29-Day Challenge pictured in this post can be downloaded from Austin Kleon’s post, here. 

(This blog post contains affiliate links, so if you do purchase Atomic Habits or another book mentioned, I’ll receive an itty bitty commission).

Summer Reading List: Contemplation, Contentment & Creativity.

Summer is here again, and I am over the moon excited for it.

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for us, crazy in (mostly) the best ways. There has been stress, and there has been drama, but more than ever, I am grateful for the celebrations happening one right after the other this summer – my mom’s milestone birthday, our 10 year (!!!) wedding anniversary, answered house prayers, and sisters’ baby showers. I could ride the wave of champagne all the way to the end of the year, but there’s more to the story (isn’t there always more to the story?).

I believe that books, like people, come into your life at just the right time. The books in my life right now are focused on themes these that I need the most – contemplation, contentment and creativity.

Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation by Phileena Heuertz. This has been on my nightstand for months, but I just started actually reading it this past weekend at our cabin stay. She writes: “In solitude, we develop the capacity to be present. In silence, we cultivate the ability to listen. And in stillness we acquire the skill of restraint or self-control.” In just the first few pages, I’ve found so much wisdom for this journey of letting go of the “compulsions to be identified with what we have, what we do, and what others say about us” and learning how to fully experience God’s love. Hannah Brencher wrote recently, “Consume grace regularly, as if it were a vitamin” – wow, yes, one hundred percent. I fully believe in embracing practices that enable that transformation by grace and that also teach me how to cope with the unending pain and suffering in this world. Reading this book makes me even more excited to attend a grounding retreat with one of my best friends this fall.

The Contentment Journal by Rachel Cruze. I know that this is a journal and not a book book, but I love it. I listened to a podcast recently with Rachel Cruze, who also identifies as an Enneagram 3, and what she said made so much sense to me. This journal focuses on gratitude, humility, and contentment – all of which I need to intentionally cultivate daily. God is working on my heart in these areas, and the process of journaling through these values is a helpful one for me.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I’m sure I’ll be working through this book all summer, but two takeaways that I’m starting to implement in my life: morning pages (using Elise Joy’s #100dayproject tracker) and the artist date. I tend to live life on the full end of the spectrum, but I hit my capacity recently with all kinds of work and tasks, leaving me feeling creatively depleted. I believe strongly in creative work, so I plan to use this summer to recalibrate, reassess, and rebuild my routine. I came across a quote by Yung Pueblo on instagram that said, “As she shed the tense energy of the past, her power and creativity returned to her. With a revitalized excitement, she focused on building a new life where joy and freedom were abundant.” Yes to power, yes to creativity, yes to joy, and yes to freedom. I’ve heard so many good things about this book, and look forward to diving into it this season.

Reading and working through these books simultaneously, the more I see how these themes intersect. Contemplative practice teaches contentment in all circumstances. With contentment comes the peace and freedom to create well and tell the truth. Engaging with creativity enables the fostering of meaningful connections.

What books are you reading this summer that are helping you grow?

MASH and other February Favorites.

The weekend after Valentine’s Day, I hosted a casual get-together at my house, a moms’ night in. There were a dozen or so of us, a mix of women from work and church, sisters and friends of friends. I bought all the Galentines decorations that Target had – everything heart-shaped and sparkly and pink – and a MASH game pad that turned out to be one of the highlights of the night.

Between sips of rosé and bites of macarons and mini cheesecakes, we filled out the templates with cars and cities, crushes and number of children.

In elementary school, when I played this last, it seemed like anything was possible. But when you already have 3 kids, is there really an option but to go up? I wrote 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and breathed a sigh of relief when I got to cross off the latter three numbers, though I was truly bummed when the Mercedes G-wagen got booted off my cars list.

We went around and read our MASH outcomes out loud. Two of the girls both ended up married to Chris Pratt – sister wives – except that one got the mansion while the other got the shack. Someone ended up living in Positano; another girl driving a Toyota Highlander. I laughed out loud when I read mine because even with all of the possible options, I got, almost exactly, the life I wanted – David, three kids, a mansion, a career as an interior designer, and a reasonable, unpretentious, VW Atlas.

When I texted the photo of it to my husband (“You made the cut!”), he replied, “Yes! Phew. The G-wagen definitely would have come with Bradley Cooper, though. Too bad.”

That MASH sheet is one of my new favorite things. I saved it, in a box next to my vision board for 2019. A small, serendipitous reminder – the future is bright and the present is exactly what it should be.

Other February faves:

+ The McGee & Co store. The fact that it’s next to Sidecar Doughnuts just seals the deal. I want everything, of course, but the Seoul wall clock and Holzer mirror are currently topping my house decor list. Chloe Hearts Art was in store doing sketches when I went, which was a bonus.

+ Khan Academy Kids. Khan Academy does such a great job with their teaching videos, and the boys love this app.

+ HP Tango Printer. Being able to print remotely from my phone, get ink automatically delivered, and have unlimited photo printing absolutely tilted our lives in favor of more efficient.

+Sleeping At Last Enneagram EIGHT podcast. The Sleeping At Last podcast is always such an great listen because of Ryan’s creative process behind the songs. This episode explored a little bit the difference between transparency and vulnerability, which was interesting.

+Elise Joy’s free daily goal tracker. This reminds me in a very visual and tactile sense that the year is made up of days, and every bubble filled in marks progress.

+Last, but not least, books!: Becoming by Michelle Obama was my book club’s pick for this month. Next month, we’re reading All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir. I started I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, which I’m simultaneously terrified by and hooked on. I finally read some Anne Lamott – Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year – and Phileena Heuertz’s new book, Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation is on my nightstand.

January: Hope and a Future.

Over and over this month, I’ve seen references to the book of Jeremiah. Hannah Brencher, my patron saint for this season, wrote a post about Jeremiah 30, “The city will be rebuilt on her ruins.” I’ve seen references in sermon notes and in books I’m reading. I’ve seen Jeremiah mentioned so many times that I’m wondering if this is foreshadowing – we’re going to have a 4th boy, and in the tradition of Bible names that end in -ah, we’re going to name him Jeremiah.

2019, and my people.

I’m kidding. I think.

But I do take January seriously – blank slate and all that. January is one of my favorite months of the year. That hasn’t changed. The thing that has changed is how hard it’s been to come up with goals for this year, in light of the next ten.

2019 is the last year of the “teens,” the last year before an entirely new decade. So how do I take this year and make it count a decade from now? And how do I take those dreams and distill progress into one year?

Right before our annual family New Year’s retreat, I wrote my goals. Then twenty-something days into the new year, I re-wrote them. And I realized that my goals weren’t just goals. They were prayers. And that “hope and a future” isn’t a checklist. It’s a promise. And after the promise is an invitation – to come, to pray, to seek.

These are a few books, etc. that are lighting that path for me:

Word By Word: A Daily Spiritual Practice – I ADORE this book. Reading it feels like she’s been going through my mail. It all applies.

Boundaries for Your Soul – Such an important book for healing from hard things.

The Rock That is Higher: Story as Truth – Madeleine L’Engle is probably my favorite writer, and I’m learning so much from this book.

A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L’Engle – Thinking and planning for the next ten years has me going down the legacy/memoir/biography alley.

Always Enough, Never Too Much – My favorite devotional book right now – I’m re-reading it. And Jess Connolly’s All Good Things Collective came out with an Enneagram line that is so good.

It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way – This book, and the Proverbs 31 study that go along with it, are game-changers for me in this season. So thankful for Lysa’s wrestling and her words.

First, Be a Follower – This is a Bible study, and not a book (see: Come Matter Here), but it has helped me to dive into truth in the best ways. If you’re looking for a study, I would start with this one.