"I believe all of life is shot through with God's presence, and that part of the gift of walking with him is seeing his fingerprints in all sorts of unexpected ways."
The thing I've always loved about Shauna Niequist's writing is how it feels like I'm reading a letter from an old friend or listening to her tell a story on a long road trip. She has this unique gift of writing in a way that connects right to my own life-- I'm underlining her words that I want to remember and thinking to myself, "YES! That's exactly how I feel," or, "This is what I want to be about." When I first read Cold Tangerines her words struck me in such a profound way that they became part of who I am and so many ideas in that book became my mantra for living. Her second book Bittersweet came out soon after I graduated from college and I was experiencing all the bitter-sweetness of life in the "real world." Somehow they always meet me right where I am.
"Either I can be here, fully here, my imperfect, messy, tired but wholly present self, or I can miss it--this moment, this conversation, this time around the table, whatever it is--because I'm trying and failing, to be perfect, keep the house perfect, make the meal perfect, ensure the gift is perfect. But this season I'm not trying for perfect. I'm just trying to show up, every time, with honesty and attentiveness.
We have, each one of us, been entrusted with one life, made up of days and hours and minutes. We're spending them according to our lives, whether or not we admit it."
Several weeks ago I flipped out when I read that Shauna and Zondervan were mailing out Advanced Reader Copies of her new book Bread and Wine to interested bloggers. I'd pre-ordered it months ago but jumped at the chance to get my hands on it early. I first got an electronic copy that I printed out in tiny font so I could start reading it right away. A week later the bound copy arrived in the mail much to my delight.
"It's so easy to think that because you can't do something extraordinary, you can't do anything at all. It's easy to decide that if you can't overhaul your entire life in one fell swoop, then you might as well just do nothing. We started where we could, with what we had. I hope it's just the beginning for us. I want to be part of the solution."
Shauna's books are the ones I recommend to my best friends and give as gifts to my Young Life girls. The covers are worn and the pages are yellowed and dog-eared from being carried in backpacks and tote bags, always coming along on important trips. These are the stories I read by flashlight at camp every summer as my campers are falling asleep in their bunks to the sound of whirring fans and Shauna's words. Her books have become my books and I love them the way you love your favorite song or the drink you get every time you go to Starbucks.
"What people are craving isn't perfection. People aren't longing to be impressed; they're longing to feel like they're home. If you create a space full of love and character and creativity and soul, they'll take off their shoes and curl up with gratitude and rest, no matter how small, no matter how undone, no matter how odd."
"I want my kids to learn firsthand and up close that different isn't bad, but instead that different is exciting and wonderful and worth taking the time to understand. I want them to see themselves as bit players in a huge, sweeping, beautiful play, not as the main characters in the drama of our living room. I want my kids to taste and smell and experience the biggest possible, because every bite of it, every taste and texture and flavor, is delicious."
Time around the table is so central to my world as well. My mission trip to the Dominican Republic is marked by plates of black beans & rice and little blue mugs of their strong mocha coffee in the morning. Swedish Fish instantly take me back to summers at Camp Jewell and the friends I met there as a kid. So many of my family memories are centered around food-- grilled cheese and minestrone soup after church, making challah bread with my mom, fruit salad all summer long, chili that cooked the whole day and spaghetti the night before cross country races. Shauna's book teaches us about why those foods, time around the table, feeding the people we love and spending time together really matters.
"Gather the people you love around your table and feed them with love and honesty and creativity. Feed them with your hands and the flavors and smells that remind you of home and beauty and the best stories you've ever heard, the best stories you've ever lived."
Pre-order the book online or go get a copy as soon as it comes out in stores April 1. This is one you want to have a copy of on your bookshelf and maybe even one for your kitchen with all of your cookbooks if you're that type of person. I loved Shauna's first two books and this one does not dissapoint.
"I want you to gobble life up in huge bites, tasting everything, trying every new flavor, remembering every smell and texture like it's the best thing you've ever had. I want you to invest yourself wholly and deeply in friendship, God's greatest evidence of himself here on earth. I want you to live with wild and gorgeous abandon, throwing yourself into each day, telling the truth about who you are and who you are not, writing a love song to the world itself and to the God who made every inch of it."
- Bread and Wine will be on sale April 1st in stores but you can pre-order it on Amazon now
What a lovely post! Thank you SO much! XO
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