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Lilies from Heaven

Daring to Hope

12/4/2017

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I have always had a heart for missions and I have been interested in Africa since I was a teenager.  For these reasons, I was excited to read Katie Davis Majors’ Daring to Hope: Finding God’s Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful. 

In Daring to Hope, Katie shares stories from her life and ministry in Uganda that emphasize God’s goodness during those times in her life when God didn’t act the way she wanted God to. Throughout the book, Katie continually wrestles with the question, “What do you do when God doesn’t show up in the way that you asked Him to?”  It's a question we all wrestle with when we are honest with ourselves.  

As she wrestles with her answer to this question, Katie tells stories that often appear hopeless. More often than not, they involve death and despair. In Katie's words, “I unknowingly believed that when things turned out well, God’s blessing was evident. And so I kept asking and waiting for the beauty to be revealed on my terms.”  

When God doesn’t behave how Katie begs him to, she concludes, “This reality left me with two choices: either God is not actually who He says He is or He is and I needed to relearn how to know Him even in hardship.”  This is one of the stand out quotes from the book.  

As Katie shares stories of brokenness, she weaves them together with various Scripture passages including Jacob wrestling with God, God providing a ram for Abraham when he’s asked to sacrifice Isaac, and the book of Habakkuk. As Katie wrestles with these scriptures, she learns, “A faith that trusts Him only when the ending is good is a fickle faith. A faith that trusts Him regardless of the outcome is real.”

Some of the most powerful stories Katie shares in Daring to Hope are those that involve her in someone else’s healing. In her words, “Jesus was to bring about my own healing by drawing me into someone else’s.”  Here is some of the beauty in our walk with God.  

As Katie walks with others, she realizes, “Maybe we are not called to alleviate suffering (as I had once imagined) as much as we are called to enter into the suffering of others and walk with them through it. We mourn with those who mourn, we weep with those who weep, we cry out with them for something better.” Katie goes on to explain, “The most powerful thing we can do for another person is not to try to fix his or her pain or make it go away but to acknowledge it. I cannot heal… But I can be a witness.”

This is a heart stirrer.  I cried, I loved, I was with her when her friend died.  She has a gift for describing her own pain, but she also has a real gift for describing hope in dire circumstances and still coming to the conclusion that God is good and gives good gifts.  

And on that note, this would make a great gift for the friends and family that are bookworms!  This gift of a book deserves to be shared.

And much love to Ann Voskamp for writing the forward!  These two women have hearts that beat for God and all the good that He can and does do for others.  


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The Trumpet of the Swan

6/14/2017

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Like the rest of his family, Louis is a trumpeter swan. But unlike his four brothers and sisters, Louis can't trumpet joyfully. In fact, he can't even make a sound. And since he can't trumpet his love, the beautiful swan Serena pays absolutely no attention to him.
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Louis tries everything he can think of to win Serena's affection;he even goes to school to learn to read and write. But nothing seems to work. Then his father steals him a real brass trumpet. Is a musical instrument the key to winning Louis his love?

I confess to wanting to read this for years!  Aidan is in grade two and the book is appropriate for 7 year olds.  What a delightful and witty book to read! The book built strong, approachable, and endearing characters. Beside the main character Louis, the old cob, the mother swan, Sam, and even Applegate all leave lasting memories.  I love Sam Beaver's character and his appreciation for nature, living things, and journaling. He's a great role model for children. I'm glad that there was a happy ending and we were able to celebrate this as our second big chapter book that we completed.  

I loved this book and the wonderful way the author handled the issue of being different and making the best of our God given gifts. A great story of encouragement for all ages, especially, for anyone with disabilities of any kind.


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The Dot and the Line

9/1/2016

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I must say that I absolutely loved this very little book!  Who would have thought that romance and mathematics would go together?  They go together very well, and it's just a delightful love story.

Chances are that you know the author, Norman Juster, from his outstanding book, "The Phantom Tollbooth." What many people don't realize is that he created this classic book also in 1968, which was turned into an Academy Award winning short film. This book is a delight at many levels, and it is the perfect opportunity for adults and children to read and discuss together!  Even though this book is indicated for the 4-8 year old group, younger children will love it, too, and the ideas in it are fascinating for adults. So, you should probably think of this as a book for "children of all ages."


You can read this book primarily from several different perspectives. It may be easier for you child if you emphasize one at a time when you introduce the book. First, there's the classic love "triangle" involving a line (a rather straight fellow) who falls for a circle, the circle (who's frivolous despite being perfectly identical in all directions -- "You're the beginning and the end, the hub, the core and the quintessence . . . ."), and a messy squiggle of a line who appeals to the dot (who the dot thinks is "gay and free, so uninhibited and full of joy"). This story line is the easiest for everyone to follow.

Although the line is rather dependable and like-able, he's just not interesting to the circle (". . . and you are as stiff as a stick. Dull. Conventional and repressed. Tied and trammeled. Subdued, smothered and stiffled."). So he goes off to "learn new tricks" and creates the ability to make an infinite number of shapes out of his line. She's impressed, and that wins the fair maiden.

The next level at which people can understand the book is to appreciate that lines can form parts of objects (like a tightrope, a lance, the equator, or a tug of war rope). If you create angles in a line, you can create all sorts of wonderful shapes from a triangle on up to very complex geometric solids. These are described by name, so this is a flying start for geometry and trigonometry later on. If you curve the line, you can create magnificent shapes of soaring grandeur. Here's where the vocabulary goes way beyond what a 4-8 year old can handle. But that's where you can be the intelligent adult who helps out. This interpretation would be wonderful for a classroom discussion also.

The third level of the book relates to the mathematical expressions behind how you turn a line into a curve or create an angle. The book has the illustrations present for this interpretation, but not the discussion. If you understand how these shapes can be described mathematically, you can make that connection for your child. 

The puns themselves are worth the cost of the book. I won't give you any examples because I don't want to spoil them, but some minor ones do show up in the quotes above. The puns take turns aiming in different directions to expand the perspective the reader has on words as sources of character comments, descriptions about physical characteristics, and plastic qualities.
One of the great sections of the book is where the circle begins to appreciate the differences between purposeful shapes and random ones. "And she suddenly realized that what she thought was freedom and joy was nothing but anarchy and sloth." This is an important section because it releases the concept of mathematics as purposeful freedom to the reader. Anyone who "gets" that message is likely to have a much easier and happier time pursuing mathematics as the delightful mental discipline that it is.

If your child takes to this material, I suggest that you might follow up with some more advanced discussions about math. Either "The Birth of the Algorithm" or "Just Six Numbers" could be read by you and then translated into age-level appropriate examples and discussions to connect math to science. This would be a wonderful gift to give to any child.
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Appreciate the potential of pure numbers . . . infinitely!
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The Spirit of Food: 34 Writers on Feasting and Fasting Toward God

4/1/2012

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Here is a feast for physical well-being and your spiritual well being.  Read, eat, and be blessed!

I will start this review with a comment/story.  I bought this book when it was recommended by Image Journal and I have been slowly working through it for over a year.  This is one of those books where you enjoy the diversity of the writing and the recipes and read slowly, savoring it all, like a grand meal with many little courses.

So, what is this book like? The reader is invited into the gourmet writing of Lauren Winner, Wendell Berry, Ann Voscamp, Amy Frykholm, Alexander Schmemann, Robert Farr Capon, and Leslie Leyland Fields who edited and coordinated this book.  Interspersed among these authors are unique perspectives from lesser known writers, all organized around the themes: On the Way to the Table, In the Kitchen, The Ways we Eat, Fasting, At the Table of the Lord, and Feasting.

Here, in stories of shopping, cooking and eating, we find ways to love our God, each other, and ourselves more deeply. We partake not only of calories but true life. We discover fresh revelation about the Lord like tasting a new and unusual spice that bursts on the tongue. In stories of communion I found a desire for more of what only He can provide, the bread we so desperately need.

As someone who tries to provide healthy food for the family, I was particularly struck by the chapter entitled Table Blessings by Kelton Cobb.  It was a reminder that everything God has created is good.  As 1 Timothy 4:4-5 states, "Everything God has created is good, and no food is to be rejected, provided grace is said for it: the word of God and prayer make it holy."

Enjoy the recipes, the writing, and grow in the awareness of God's love, grace, and community. 
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    I am an avid reader and I believe some books can change your life.  I want to review some of the books that have changed my thinking or reinforced great biblical truths.

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