As we're waving goodbye to 2020 and walking in to the new year, I hope you will be able to look back and find the blessings amidst the pandemic and turmoil of this past year and to keep putting one foot in front of the other as we move toward the joys and challenges of the year ahead!
Happy New Year Y'all!
On a very rare outing a couple of months ago, we stopped at Half Price Books to sell back a couple of boxes of books. The store policy is that we have to remain in the store while we wait for the buy offer on our books, so we wandered around social distancing and discovered these gorgeous book pages sculptures.
Since we both found it pretty uncomfortable wearing masks and wandering the store trying to social distance from other shoppers, it'll be a good long while before we return to sell back additional books. Who knows, maybe we'll get inspired and just take them apart and create something instead!
As I look back over my books read list for this year, it's apparent that this was not the year for lots of nonfiction reading. Of the 89 books I've read (so far), only 25 are nonfiction, with 21 of those being read during the first half of the year. As the pandemic continued and civil unrest and election news seemed to take over everything, I gravitated toward good fiction.
Here's a quick review of the four nonfiction books I've read since the beginning of July.
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World had been on my to-read shelf since early 2019. I have mixed feelings about this book - I agree with the premise that we need to empower women as one way to make changes in our world and found the stories interesting. On the other hand, it was somewhat depressing reading the stories of abuse and poverty around the world and I often couldn't relate to the author, Melinda Gates (wife of Microsoft's Bill Gates). Since my thoughts were somewhat divided on this book, I added it to our personal library until I decide if I want to revisit it in a year that's not already filled with so much hard news.
Next, I was asked by TCK Publishing if I'd like to review one of their recent books, so I chose The Art of Writing by Peter Yang (which I received free in exchange for an honest review). I chose this book because I thought it would be good inspiration and a reminder to be continually conscientious about improving my writing here on the blog and in my newsletters, etc. The contents list the "four principles for great writing that everyone needs to know" as economy, transparency, variety, and harmony. So, I was excited to dive in; however, I found this book to be lacking and really cannot recommend it. The author didn't really follow his own guidelines, the examples were sometimes distracting, and some paragraphs were so disjointed or superfluous that I had no idea what he was trying to say. I'm glad it was a thin book, otherwise I would have simply put it in the donate pile without finishing it.
(On the other hand, this blog post from TCK Publishing is a great read looking at why stories are important to our lives and culture.)
These last two books from our personal library are ones I've just read as part of enjoying the Christmas season.
Windows on Christmas is a small but lovely volume that shares a look at Christmas from various perspectives or "windows" beginning with Mary & Joseph and including the angels, the shepherds, Anna and Simeon. Christmas Stories for the Heart is another small volume that is filled with lovely stories of Christmastime, some of them I've heard or read other places (or at least some version of) while others I did not remember as it's been quite a few years since I read this book that we received as a wedding gift (almost) 19 years ago.
How about you? Did you gravitate toward fiction books this year or take the opportunity to include more nonfiction or (as some have said) simply quit reading and binge watch Netflix?
The evergreen trees that we decorate at Christmas time are a symbol of hope. In nature, the evergreen tree gives hope that spring is coming as it perseveres through the hardship of winter weather. It remains unchanged through the seasons and gives hope that there will be a freshness and newness when spring arrives.
Similarly, when we look at our Christmas trees, we can remember the hope of new life in Christ. Before that first Christmas, the people were hoping and waiting for the Savior. The birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of their hope!
Notice how the tree points toward heaven and has a triangular shape reminding us of the 3 persons of our Lord - God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We often put a star on top, which serves as a reminder to follow the star that leads to Christ. All those twinkly lights remind us that Jesus is the true light in a world of darkness.
Our beautiful Christmas trees can remind us to place our hope in the Lord and in His Word.
When you look at your Christmas tree, what do you see?
