Current Reads

I love to read. Can't get enough of it! Most of the time, I'm reading about three or four books at a time. Because of my busy lifestyle however (I have four children ages one to eight), I have to settle with getting snippets of reading done here and there. (And when I say "snippets," I mean snippets, as in a five or ten minute peek here and there!) Occasionally, I do opt for burning the midnight oil with my latest finds (not a good idea as it leaves me tired before the next day even begins!).

With the little time I do have, these days I mostly enjoy reading books having to do with parenting, homeschooling and growing deeper in my walk with the Lord. The following are just some of the books I have either on my nightstand or stacked on the floor by my reading couch in the family room: A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century (by Oliver Van DeMille) [-- this one I'm reading with a wonderful homeschooling mentor mom I meet with two mornings a month], Hollywood Worldviews:Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment (by Brian Godawa), Biblical Doctrine (by Wayne Grudem), Biblical Parenting (by Crystal Lutton), Good and Angry (by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller) [reading this with my hubby], The Rest of the Gospel: When the Partial Gospel Has Worn You Out (by Stone, Gregory and Rackets) and Living a Praying Life (by Jennifer Kennedy Dean) [went through this with my bible study group months ago, but couldn't get enough of it so I'm going through it again].

Yikes! Heavy reading you, you say? No, not really. Somehow, I find all of these books are working together to bring me into greater freedom in key areas of my current season of life. It's a wonderful process of engaging both my mind and heart. Meeting God's grace through each of these books has been an exhilerating adventure for me.

I am a thinker, and I love being a thinker. In the past, I used to not like that about myself, often wishing I wasn't so drawn to the deeper, more philosophical questions about life. In the recent years, especially within the past year, I have learned to embrace how God has made me -- that He has made me a deep well. Not only that, but I also learned that being a thinker does not make me serious and lifeless. In fact, I have discovered that embracing God's handiwork in me -- even this propensity I have to seek deep truth -- has set me free to experience the pure joy of walking closer with the Lord and living this life He's given me.

Now, if I could only get around to reading the "fun" book I also have by my bed, Cheaper by the Dozen (by Gilbreth and Carey) [I'm told it's pretty humurous], I could say I'm closer to having a more well-balanced literary diet, but as it is, I keep waiting for that long block of time to show up so I could read my short novel, and I don't see that block of time happening any time soon! (Somehow the words snippets and novel don't seem to go together to me, no matter how short the novel may be!) Thank God for my children's books. They'll keep me lighthearted in the meantime, while I chew the cud of the theology, Christian worldview and parenting philosophies I live out everyday. Yummy! :-)