Thoughts from the bookshelf (or e-reader, as it may be)

As much as fall leaves beckon me to come out and crunch through them on sunny autumn days, the written word calls to me on chilly, overcast days that hint at hinter to come.  This fall has brought a couple of library books my way.  I once read (wish that I could remember where!) that while we read books and stories, what we remember are phrases, and that it is those short snippets that end up taking hold in our lives.  In my life, that's definitely been the case.  Long after the plot and characters of a story or the facts of a true account have been forgotten, small snippets remain. 

Here are some of the snippets that have made their way into my story in the past month or so:

• I was born with a plan . . . none of that came true . .  And if it had- if I had lived the life I thought I wanted - I know I wouldn't have experienced the grace or the miracles of God in the ways that I have.  What I've found is that it's in the most unlikely times and places of hurt and chaos that God gives us a profound sense of His presence and the real light of His hope in the dark places.  (Choosing to SEE, Mary Beth Chapman)
• Each act of kindness, the prayers and every gift comfort us and assure us that our spirits will heal, even though the painful loss will always be with us. - Nickel Mines Accountability Committee (Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, Donald B. Kraybill)
• Proximity to temptation is one of the deadliest determinants of procrastination . . . the more enticing the distraction, the less work we do . . . we work harder for rewards that are unpredictable but instantaneous when the arrive . . . (The Procrastination Equation, Piers Steel)
• Like many another educated adult, I consumed "news" in the same way that I consumed Coke Zero:  in great empty gulpfuls throughout the day.  It was filling but hard to digest, producing an uncomfortable informational flatulence. . . .Their online world had become "the point" - of existence, I mean - and every other kind of interaction constituted a tangent.  An interruption. . . . She never felt entirely hungry, nor entirely satisfied . . .   (The Winter of Our Disconnect, Susan Maushart)
• In spending this money, am I acting like I owned it, or am I acting like the Lord's trustee?  (http://www.goodtobecrazy.com/)
• Imagine you have a great job working in France for 3 months and are staying in a hotel while there.  The rules are, you can send as much money back home as you wish or spend it there, but anything you buy while there you have to leave when you return home.  Would you spend your money on new furnishings for your hotel room, etc., or send it to your real home?  (David Platt)

The Winter of Our Disconnect  was a tale of a mom and her three teenagers who went screen-free for six months, and included many insights from research on digital media and how it affects our lives. I found a lot of my struggles as a "Digital Immigrant" described in this book.   I also found the very different mind-set on parenting expressed in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua interesting, if not a bit troublesome at times. 

What have you been reading?