A Buffet of Books for Summer Reading

Food trucks, farmers’ markets, and family reunions punctuate our summers; and so does the opportunity to pause and read a good book! If you want suggestions for literary enrichment, I invite you to consider these options for your beach bag, tote bag, or back porch basket.

“Food trucks, farmers’ markets, and family reunions punctuate our summers; and so does the opportunity to pause and read a good book! ”

— Living With Eternal Intentionality®

Forty Autumns by Nina Wilner

This riveting memoir captures the day-to-day and year-to-year reality of one family divided by the Berlin Wall between East and West Germany. Multiple generations of relatives suffer at the hand of a global Cold War. The author’s extraordinary literally skills keep the reader engaged to the last page and beyond.

A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielson

Resistance by Jennifer Nielson

Words on Fire by Jennifer Nielson

Rescue by Jennifer Nielson

First, a friend—and then my voracious reader granddaughter—introduced me to author Jennifer Nielson. While these four mentioned volumes are classified as YA, young adult fiction, Nielsen masterfully offers sufficient substance to hold the interest of an adult reader who enjoys historical fiction.

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

Oh, my! The New York Times calls this true story of exploration to Antarctica, “One of the great adventure stories of our time.” Taken from the pages, one reads, “They were castaways in one of the most savage regions of the world, drifting they knew not where, without a hope of rescue, subsisting only so long as Providence sent them food to eat.”

Seated with Christ: Living Freely in a Culture of Comparison by Heather Holloman

Professor, Ph.D., and author Heather Holloman invites her reader to “Find your seat at the greatest table with the greatest King.” She continues, “… you can be free from self-consciousness, from comparing yourself to others, and from being so preoccupied with whether you have a seat at the table that you’re missing the incredible life in Christ that could be yours.”

The Book of Proverbs

The Book of Proverbs, saturated with rich practical wisdom, contains 31 chapters. Summer’s middle month of July also contains 31 days, thus lending this Book in the Bible to reading one chapter of Proverbs for each of the 31 days.

Summer gives us permission to lose ourselves in a good book. I hope you will be gentle with yourself, hit the pause button, take a deep breath button, and read. Then, please tell me all about it!

“Summer gives us permission to lose ourselves in a good book. Hit the pause button, take a deep breath button, and read. ”

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

“To everything, there is a season …” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

In this season of summer, when will reading fit into your other planned activities?

How does your intellectual nourishment bring glory to God?

Which titles would you share for the rest of us to consider this summer?

Celebrate Worldwide Knitting Day

One dark, quiet night, somewhere out over the Atlantic, I had an epiphany. Surrounded by masked passengers slumped in their seats, the activity of the lady across the aisle (and one row forward) captured my heart. While others slept, she knitted. With the speed and agility of an Olympic athlete, this individual’s fingers created row after row of a thirty-six-inch colorful boa.

“With the speed and agility of an Olympic athlete, this individual’s fingers created row after row of a thirty-six-inch colorful boa. ”

— Living With Eternal Intentionality

And here is the best part: when we touched down at JFK, she made a formal gift presentation to her fellow traveler, “Here, this is for you. While on our tour, you commented on how much you liked my boa, and I wanted to make one for you.”

Wow! I thought to myself, “What an amazing souvenir.” Sitting undetected in the audience and watching the airplane theatrics play out, this drama pulled me in like a magnet. Because of that transatlantic flight, I enthusiastically determined to take up knitting.

So, after a trip to Hobby Lobby to purchase eyelash yarn specific for boas—and laboring step by step over YouTube tutorials—I embarked on my own delightful journey of creating handmade gifts. Endless mistakes and encouragement from fellow knitters punctuated my beginner’s path. When I wanted to quit and toss the whole ball of tangled yarn in the garbage, the image of the unknown lady on the plane kept me moving ahead (or, might I add, flying forward).

From time to time, I evaluate and ask myself, “Why do I love this activity?”

Blessings of Knitting

1. The sheer delight. I never expected to be able to knit!

2. Time, especially travel time, passes pleasantly and productively when one is knitting.

3. The feel of the yarn and its vibrant thread color provide a rich sensory experience.

4. Science supports the fact that knitting is a healthy endeavor. A few benefits: lowered blood pressure, slowed onset of dementia, a distraction from chronic pain, and an increased sense of well-being.

5. The surprised smile on the recipient’s face brings untold joy to my soul when I say, “Here, I made this for you.”

So, on June 11th, Worldwide Knitting in Public Day, give a high five to any knitter in your circle of friends. And, consider for a moment that the adventure just might be for you!

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

What hobby captures your heart and feeds your soul?

Where did you learn this?

Could it be that someone is unobtrusively observing your interaction with your craft?

If so, how would they describe the benefits they see it brings to you?

Are You Afraid of God?

Fear. For years, F.E.A.R. described my relationship with God. I became a follower of Christ at an early age, and I knew heaven as my eternal destination.

Yet, the issue of control existed between God and me. I trembled at the thought of His plan for my life, fearing He would send me to Africa as a missionary. Afraid to release my grip on my own destiny, I relentlessly wrestled with God. This paralyzing fear dominated my relationship with Him, and gave way to “spiritual panic attacks”.

As a university student, in a dormitory bathroom, the course of my life changed forever. One afternoon, exhausted from the battle, I knelt on the cold hard floor and prayed:

“God, I give up; I let go.”

— Living With Eternal Intentionality

“God, I give up; I let go. I am tired of being afraid of You and Your plan for my life. I release one tight finger at a time, the fist of control over my life. My palms are opened; here, I am offering my life out of my hands into Yours. I finally realize if You loved me enough to send Your Son to die on the cross to pay for my sins, then You love me enough to provide what is best for me. I will do anything You want me to do; I will go anywhere You want me to go, even if it means Africa as a missionary.”

With my utterance of Amen, I collapsed, weak with relief. Even before getting up off my knees from the tile floor in Hathorn Hall at Mississippi State University, heaven itself flooded my heart with peace. With the contrast so extreme, I desired never to return to my former way of life, that of a fear-based relationship with God.

So, these years later, when my fingers start to tense around anything (and they do) I sense a heart tug by the Holy Spirit reminding me—Hathorn Hall, the bathroom, the ultimate life contract. Reject fear. Let go. Release this situation into the loving hands of your heavenly Father.

Intimacy with Jesus depends on a commitment to withhold nothing from Him. Intimacy thrives within absolute trust. The following words penned in 1887 by John H. Sammis are entirely true; I know.

But we never can prove the delights of His love

Until all on the altar we lay;

For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,

Are for them who will trust and obey.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

When did fear cloud your perspective of the true character of God?

How have you grown to realize that fear is a vicious tool of the enemy to keep you from experiencing all that your loving heavenly Father has for you?