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Great reads from this past week:
In Defense of Beauty, by Alia Joy. Be ready to have your breath taken away when reading the whole article. Here’s a teaser: “Maybe there are poets who write the simple things of bread and earth and sky but in the folds of those words there are multitudes lapping at the ripples, like the slick sideways swish of a Hariwake Koi’s belly, its silky apricot scales hinting at something brilliant beneath the surface.”
Alia’s writing inspires you to see beauty around you and also to experience it through her skillful prose.
A Prayer for the Heart in 30 Words or Less, by Emily P. Freeman. Emily endears me to her by the way she makes me smile. Case in point >>: “My fourth grade oral book report went on so long I had to finish it the next day. Finally, my teacher told me that would be all and I remember thinking that is most certainly not ALL. I haven’t even gotten to the climax yet, much less the end of the story.”
And a Video About #AllTheThings (to include, “Redeeming the Chicken Slaughter”), by Eshter Emery. “I don’t want to ignore comments and I don’t want to lead with an edge and I don’t want to be thick-skinned. This is exactly all the reason why I write: in order to have a meaningful spark with readers. That’s always been my “why.“ She explores this because of the struggle with: “The manufactured/consumer world would like to turn me into a product. But I know you don’t want that for me. And I don’t want that for me, either.”
If you haven’t been following Esther Emery, you’re missing out.
Come Together, by Deidra Riggs. The reluctant going-there-er, writes: “We stumble upon the gifts of unity and oneness, forgiveness and mercy; these things are always in the most unlikely places.” But she wrote that after her struggle of: “On that first day, when I spent the day on the bed in our guest room, I drafted an email to my editor. I was going to tell her to scrap the book I’ve been working on. The book about unity and oneness. ‘What good is a book on unity?’
Dear North America: We Can Do Better, by Kristen Welch. ”People in poverty don’t want a handout. They want a job.” Plus, Kristen includes a vetteed list of non-profits.
In light of our nation’s (& world’s) turmoil, here are a few of the good things (along with cities, nationwide, coming together to pray):
Together 2016 happened on the steps of our National Mall in D.C., this past weekend. See what happened by visiting here. It was featured in Washington Times, USA Today, Charisma news, Christian Post, and a brief blip at the New York Times (which reads more like a weather report). Did you know about this??
A video where Black Lives Matter march and counter-protesters of the same march, come together, listen to one another, and then pray together. Powerful stuff.
Below, at the Memorial Dallas Police Chief David Brown says (at the 2:35 mark), “We all know sometimes life’s hate and troubles make you wish you were born in oanother time and place. But you can bet your life times, and twice as double, that God knew exactly where He wanted you to be placed.”
He then quotes Stevie Wonder. If you don’t know about Police Chief Brown, who has recently been in the spotlight (<<seen here from 1:32 to 7:54), his own son was shot and killed by police officers (<<video linked here).
ABC also recently held an interesting townhall meeting to talk about division, to listen to one another, and to discuss how to come together across the divide in this video here <<click.
The latest craze:
Did you know about this?
My sister informed me what this meant after I discovered my niece and friends were playing it somewhere in the city. If you haven’t heard, you gotta see this to believe it.
And 10 Things You Need to Know before Starting a New Game
Future books from friends that I look forward to reading:
Happiness Dare: Pursuing Your Heart’s Deepest, Holiest, Most Vunerable Desire, by Jennifer Dukes Lee. If you’ve always been taught that joy trumps happiness, you’ll want to read what Jennifer found in her scriptural hunt of the word. Besides, who doesn’t want more happiness in their life? From Amazon, “for years, she wrestled with a constant nagging sense that she wasn’t as happy as she could be. At the same time, she felt guilty for wanting something so ‘shallow.’ After all, doesn’t God only care that we find joy in our circumstances? Or is it possible that God really does want us to be happy?”
You can read Jennifer’s backstory here <<.
One: Unity in a Divided World, by Deidra Riggs. Y’all this book is my heart cry for the unrest of our world today. From Amazon, “Jesus didn’t say that the world would know we are his followers by our biting rhetoric, our political leanings, our charity work, or even by our knowledge of Scripture. He said the world would know us by our love for one another.” A big ol’ yes!
Things I’m into this summer:
Updates on the blog so you can Start >>Here<< and find Writing Tools <<here.
My family bought a boat and so far, we shredded one propeller from hitting a drowned tree, under the surface, on one of our local lakes. Um, not sure if this boat thing is a good idea. The jury is still out.
We plan to take it out again this weekend, new propeller and all, to a different lake.
I’m also distracting myself from the edits I need to be working on for my next book–squirrel–by doing things, like say, lazy days at a local water park.
Lastly, in two weeks, I’m attending my first Declare Conference in Dallas. Should be interesting and I hope to write about that soon.
How is your Summer? Any good books you want to recommend or great articles we should read?