Good Reading

I grew up with my parents reading "Organic Gardening", which, trust me, in the 70's was unique. Most of my friends parents read "Southern Living" and "Redbook", so I found my parents unbelievably weird. However, what they say, is, in fact, true, and I have become my mother and love all things organic and healthful. I also adore beauty and cooking and decorating, so I was thrilled to stumble onto this magazine last summer. I love everything about it, and keep a copy in the car at all times, to have handy for reading at the bus stop / practice / rehearsal/ orthodontist appointments. It is one of those magazines that makes me feel more virtuous for reading, even if I haven't implemented a single thing, I feel better for just knowing:-)

The only good thing about being sick, in my book ,(no pun intended) is the opportunity to relax, guilt free, and read a fictional book from beginning to end with no interruptions. So while the girls and I recovered from strep this weekend, I took full advantage and picked up "The Help", which I had been hearing so much about.

Several friends had recommended it, praising it as a late night page turner, and it didn't disappoint! I loved the story, first of all, because I enjoy any fiction set in the south. This South, however, was far different from any I have ever known, and it was very hard for me to reconcile the aspects which I know are true (racism, maids in every white house, segregation) with life as I have known it. It's hard to believe how different our world is now from the early 60's, and I am so grateful that I didn't live in that time and have to see the blatant unfairness of life for people solely because of the color of their skin. I think this is a book everyone would enjoy, and I am eager for this author's next book (this was her first).

On a completely different note, I am loving this book in my daily quiet time. Oh my goodness, it is chock full of fabulously helpful nuggets on creating a Christian home. There is truly nothing on earth that matters to me more than the little people we are raising in this household, and I seem to have a never ending stack of parenting and marriage books by my bed at all times. This one, however, is at the top of the stack! It is so good, in fact, that I am having it spiral bound (Kinko's $4.50 by the way, and my first stop with every Beth Moore study book) so I can mark it up and refer back to it more easily. Love, love, love it, and think every family should have it to offer encouraging and godly counsel on the foundation of a Christian home.

I love it because it is anecdotal, biblically based, and NOT dry. I'm not a fan of the deep, dry stuff, but adore real life God loving advice, and this is full of it. Another benefit I have found in it, is that I find myself pausing to actually pray specific things for our family as I read it, triggered by the scriptures used throughout. Really good stuff.

So there you have it. A few of the things shaping my world these days. There is a steady hum of rain on the skylight above my head, the perfect day to curl up with another book, if I only didn't have to work today!