Last week ended another school year and started a fresh summer. I have already taken advantage of the summer by taking a quick trip to visit family and friends in California and making two cakes to host two different sets of friends. This week filled me up. It’s one of those that you want to just keep going.
I’ve also read a lot this week. I finished The Books of Longings which is a made up story about what life might have been like if Jesus had a wife. It was fascinating. The characters were developed really well, and it had fun Easter eggs to some of the real events of Jesus’ life. I also finished The Girls in the Attic which is a moving historical fiction about about life in Nazi Germany during Hitler’s rule. I’m nearly done with Emptied by Wynter and Jonathan Pitts. It’s a light-hearted book on marriage that’s formatted with separate sections written by Wynter and by Jonathan giving stories from both of their perspectives. I first heard about them because of a live podcast event that I went to a few years ago. Wynter was supposed to be one of the guests, but she unexpectedly passed away one day in her late thirties. She left behind Jonathan and four daughters. They turned in the final draft of their book just hours before she died. Though the story is tragic, it’s also filled with hope and God moments.
“You can’t skip chapters, that’s not how life works. You have to read every line, meet every character. You won’t enjoy all of it. Hell, some chapters will make you cry for weeks. You will read things you don’t want to read, you will have moments when you don’t want the pages to end. But you have to keep going. Stories keep the world revolving. Live yours, don’t miss out.”
The quote is from a book called Pillow Thoughts II by Courntey Peppernell. I don’t know if the rest of the book is any good, but that one quote is very profound.
The Bible has a lot to say about suffering. Here are just a few verses.
1 Peter 1:6-7 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1 Peter 4:12-13 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
I know in my life I’ve wanted to fast forward, or skip chapters, during painful times and linger in comforting ones. I’ve had my share of both, and they work together to make life interesting and help me grow. Those manure moments from last week lead to maturity, if we let them.
Fearless Flourishing 