For some reason, lately I’ve found myself drawn to books on the topic of loving the life you have now, with all its bumps and dips and scratches and imperfections. I suppose it can be all too easy to wish our lives away for something easier, prettier, happier, healthier—the list goes on and on—that we never take the time to appreciate that which sits right before us, right this moment.

But that is not the way I want to live my life.

Instead, I want to take the humble life that God has given me and learn to see—and embrace and appreciate—the glittering gifts that lie in its folds.

So, that has been the guiding force behind the books I’ve been reading lately, and I wanted to share a couple of reviews on some of those books; one of which I was not impressed with (sadly, because, as a writer, I always hate doling out a bad review!) but another that I filled up with page markers and underlines. Here’s more about each of those books:

Grumble Hallelujah by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira
I have to say that I love a lot about this book, starting with the title itself. So much so that when I was working on a Sunday School lesson that I was teaching recently, I used this book and One Thousand Gifts (you know that’s a tip-top favorite of mine!) as prime fodder for material. Like One Thousand Gifts, Grumble Hallelujah looks at what we do when life doesn’t go the way that we planned and how we deal with this in terms of our faith. Of the two, I still would say that One Thousand Gifts is my hands-down favorite and preferred, but this book is another book in the same vein that is definitely worth reading. (You can read more of my review about One Thousand Gifts here.)

In it, author Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira talks from a place of knowing—she has walked her fair share of suffering in her finances, her marriage, her family life. And as she writes, none of it has disappeared or been tied up with a pretty little bow. No, she’s still in the midst of some of it, dealing with the fall-out. And yet, from that reality, she talks intimately about how she has slowly started the process of learning to love her life, no matter how dark or difficult it might look. And how do you learn to love your life? Well, that’s where the book’s title comes into play.

Loving the life we currently have is rooted in this idea of praising God—even if we have to grumble a Hallelujah. As she says, “I discovered that God welcomed my resigned, crabby, sigh-filled, grumbly hallelujahs. So I needed to learn to mumble it, grumble it, hiss it, or smirk it.”

Throughout the book (which I received, courtesy of Tyndale House Publishers for this review), she spotlights what that looks like in a variety of situations where we need to learn to “let go”—whether it’s of expectations, control, jealousy, or the feeling that you have to have it all together—and how she’s had to walk through each of those issues. Without laying out all her dirty laundry, she is pretty raw and real about her story and the dark places she’s been and how God has walked her through those places. That kind of humility and honesty is one of the things that endeared me most to this book.

Judging from my page markings, it was the first portion of the book that I found most compelling and where I marked page after page, especially the parts in the first chapters where she looks at Biblical examples of folks who “grumble” their hallelujahs to God—not necessarily for their circumstances of suffering but for the simple fact of who God is—and how doing so impacts our faith. She wades into a few subjects that few authors seem to have touched on—such as being willing to grieve the life we don't have—that I felt made this a worthwhile read.

You can find Grumble Hallelujah by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira on Amazon.

Constantly Craving by Marilyn Meberg
I had high hopes for this book, having used the Amazon search feature to read through a bunch of random interior pages before I selected it from BookSneeze, who provided me with a copy to review. I really thought this was going to be one of my favorite books of the year. but when I actually started reading it, I was pretty disappointed. It’s not that it’s a bad book; I was just hoping for more.

In it, author Marilyn Meberg looks at about a dozen ways that people are often craving “more” from life, whether it’s craving a better romantic relationship, finding more time and respite from busyness, yearning for more meaning in life and a few other of life’s biggies. Of course it should come as no surprise that she reiterates the same thing that Jesus trumpeted here on life, which is that he is the only water that can quench our thirst so that we’re never thirsty again, he is the only Thing that fill us to satisfaction. But she goes deeper and looks at where many of these cravings come from—particularly from our childhood experiences—as well as some very brief insights for how to manage those cravings.

The book is a decent starting place for looking at finding contentment with life, but it seemed rushed and trite and overly simplistic in some parts. I was hoping it would be much more memoir-esque—since the author is in her seventies and has much wisdom to impart! There were many funny snippets from her life sprinkled throughout, but I was eager to see more of a here’s-how-I-walked-this-out aspect that I felt was missing from making this book a truly worthwhile and life-changing read.

You can find  Constantly Craving by Marilyn Meberg on Amazon.

Carmen writes the blog, Life Blessons, which provides an intimate look into her life as a twentysomething woman as she details her experiences learning how to live out her faith, enjoy the simple things in life and be the woman God created to her to be. Along the way, she shares the blessings and lessons that are a part of this journey, the things she likes to call her "blessons."

Feel free to learn more at her blog, Life Blessons.

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done much reading outside of the Bible.

Every so often, I have do something like that—put aside all the books that are fresh with copyrights and whose authors are still alive and doing book tours. I have to put them aside so that I can better focus my devotions on that one Book that is as old as time but more important than any other book since.

It’s not that the books I’m apt to read are wrong or bad. They’re not. In fact they’re almost all about that one Book, anyway. But that’s the thing. While they may be about that Book, they are not that Book.

That distinction makes all the difference.

Sometimes it can be incredibly helpful and insightful and necessary to sit down with one of those books, which sheds light on what the Lord has written in his own Book. Those books help us grow closer to that Book and learn to love it like the Author always intended. Many books have done that for me.

But as helpful as those books can be, we must not forget the fact that they are not the Book. At some point, we must go to the Book itself to quench our thirsts and to inform our understandings. We can’t always take someone else’s opinion of it. We have to let the Holy Spirit be our guide, rather than another human being.

The first time I realized this was a couple years after I’d become a Christian. I was devouring these sorts of books, ordering them like candy and chewing on them each night before bed and on my lunch break. They were all Christian living titles, which helped me wrap my head around how I ought to, as a Christian, approach things like dating and politics and the environment and my tendency to stress out over the littlest of things.

They were so helpful in helping shape my understanding of how the Bible and God’s teachings fit into this crazy, chaotic world of ours.

But I realized that I was reading them to the detriment of actually reading the Book that they were all quoting from and point toward. And so, I took my first sabbatical from the books of this world and dedicated myself to reading only the Book. The only Book that can wear a capitalized “B” and you know exactly what I’m talking about. That one.

It was at a similar spot where I found myself a few months ago.

As a writer, I’m also a natural-born bibliophile. It was a love of books that was one of the first things that impressed me about the man whom I later married and who brought his own share of paged volumes into the relationship.

So, I’m easily lured to want to read more, to pick up a new book and learn from what it’s author has gleaned and experienced and written down to share with the world. I trust that there’s plenty to be found in those pages that can help me on this journey to know and love and obey this great Author who has written a story that has captured my heart.

But at some point, those books started to lose interest to me. Even as I stared at my bookshelves and saw so many spines that had yet to be read, they held no sway over me.

There were no more divided attentions. It was only the one Book that I wanted to sit down with and read, to turn to, to sit with. And so, I did.

For months, that’s how it went. And I couldn’t be happier—thrilled, really—to realize that. To know that my truest desire was to sit down with this Book rather than any other book, written by any other hand. I stand in awe, knowing truly how many times I prayed for that kind of heart and desire.

Sure there are still days when I have to make myself sit down with my Bible. There are days I’d rather be working on a craft or lounging on the couch rather than hunkered over this age-old tome. But my heart is understanding how much more I need this Book than any other, and it considers all others second to this One.

I’ve recently dipped my toes back into the reading-other-books-outside-the-Bible waters and made my way through some new books—some of which were worth the time and some of which weren’t. I’ll be sharing some of my thoughts on a couple of those books next week, but for now, it’s a reminder to me why I choose to keep my focus on that one Book, because it is the one that can never disappoint:

“But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law—the law that sets you free—and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, God will bless you for doing it.” (James 1:25)

Carmen writes the blog, Life Blessons, which provides an intimate look into her life as a twentysomething woman as she details her experiences learning how to live out her faith, enjoy the simple things in life and be the woman God created to her to be. Along the way, she shares the blessings and lessons that are a part of this journey, the things she likes to call her "blessons."

Feel free to learn more at her blog, Life Blessons.

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One of my favorite daily rituals is waking up early and walking the house, opening the curtains and blinds as I go. From room to room, letting the rising, glittering sunlight wash in after a long night’s slumber.

I’ve never had so many windows in one living space. It still feels so luxurious to have so many to open and close, whenever I have the fancy.

There’s something soothing about the task of letting the sunshine in, watching rooms light up as I make my way through the house.

I pull the shades to the side, twirl the blinds into place and watch my plants bask in the morning’s glow. I look out over our yard and see if there have been any changes from the day before. The leaves are tousled, maybe there’s a squirrel stowing seeds or a bird bouncing from branch to branch.

It’s so simple, really. It’s life at its most basic. The sun comes up and then goes down, and so we follow along with it.

Sometimes I wonder why life seems like it’s always on repeat; why the dishes may be clean for an afternoon but soon they’re dirty all over again. Why you can make one good meal but then you are faced with another to make. Why you can have one incredible day, but it soon resets and you have to face it all over again.

And yet, that’s the beauty of it all. It’s a constant reminder that a new day will always dawn. There’s always another chance to throw open the curtains and let the Son shine in. No matter what yesterday may have held—heartache or hunger, health or happiness—there’s always another day to draw closer to that which truly matters, to remember what we’re here for, and that somehow he holds all of this—the sun and all of it—in his hands. Even us.

Little, old us. Rising and falling with each day of the setting sun. With the choice to rise and fall with the Son that set it all in motion in the first place.

Here’s to opening the curtains wide and basking in the Light of the world.

Carmen writes the blog, Life Blessons, which provides an intimate look into her life as a twentysomething woman as she details her experiences learning how to live out her faith, enjoy the simple things in life and be the woman God created to her to be. Along the way, she shares the blessings and lessons that are a part of this journey, the things she likes to call her "blessons."

Feel free to learn more at her blog, Life Blessons.

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