I’m wondering if you are like me and enjoy grabbing a book off the shelf that you’ve read years before and then take the time to read it again months or even years later. I do that often and I always find it interesting when I do that what I get from the book changes or what jumps off the page to me now didn’t even stick with me before. It is the exact same book…the same text as before…but the book seems different because I have changed since I last read the pages. Ahhh….the grace of perspective!
I find that our perspective can be fluid and ever changing as we grow. I enjoy reading because it allows me to expand my mind and heart beyond my own experiences and gain a deeper understanding not only of myself but also of others and their experiences.
Here are three books that over the years still have a place on my bookshelf and I recently circled back to read again in this first half of 2019.
1. Second Calling by Dale Hanson Burke
A friend gave this book to me in October 2013. My son was in his first year away at college, so I was a brand new empty nester! In my early months of “empty nest” it was a hard adjustment, but I was still very busy helping my dad with his TBI rehabilitation and offering support during his blood cancer treatment. All that kept me in “busy mode” which is what I was good at and used to. About a week after my dad passed away, I went to say goodbye to this friend as she was moving away to another city. I remember standing in the foyer of her beautiful home on a cool fall day, only a week after my dads passing, completely broken and with what felt like a dark, empty hole in my heart. We chatted a while but I know I mostly rambled on and on about who knows what! It was clear I was in a lot of pain and pretty much lost in a fog. She walked into her library and then handed me this book, which actually I didn’t open until about eight months later. Second Calling delves in to the second season of a woman’s life and the changing roles we serve in. If you are a woman feeling empty, lost or confused in the second stage of your life, or maybe experiencing a major change in the roles you have functioned in thus far in your life, reading her book should be on your to do list. The book discusses how God has so much more planned for us in the second half of our life. All this time God has been preparing us for what is yet to come in our journey. A quote from the book that has always stuck with me, “But eventually He wants us to move on, confident that what He is calling us to will be so much more than what He is calling us from.” One of my takeaways from this book is how much we should embrace this season of our life, our second calling, with excitement and anticipation of what is yet to come. I believe the second stage of life is a time God wants to do more through us than ever before.
2. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
I think I was 32 years old when I first discovered the writings of Eckhart Tolle. Stumbling upon this spiritual teacher many years ago was such a gift! His books have found a permanent place on my nightstand over the years. Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now, can speak so simply yet cause me to pause, breath and really reflect on what I just read. His explaining of being, our soul and the importance of living in the present moment were huge game changers for me. It’s taken several reads for my brain to really absorb the meaning of some of the chapters but now my mind easily refers back to many of his teachings After I read this book, I didn’t have the need to label or categorize things in life in the same way I had before. A moment was simply that… a moment…my mind didn’t feel he need to label the moment good or bad or attach some kind of emotion to it…it simply was just that…a moment in time. I was able to focus more on being present and letting the experience, the moment, run through me and ask what that moment was trying to teach me. Being truly present, increasing our self-awareness, connecting to our soul and quieting the chatter in the mind brings us into the Power of Now. This is a great book to read a chapter or a few paragraphs before times of prayer or meditation.
3. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
I appreciate the authors approach to developing a deep awareness to the connection we have to our soul at all times. While I find some of his writing complicated or harder to digest, this book was very insightful to recognize some of the energy patterns we fall into without even being aware of it. Habitual thought patterns that can be limiting or hold us back from reaching our infinite potential can sometimes be hard to recognize, but his book shed some light on it. Chapter 16, The Spiritual Path of Nonresistance, was one of my favorites the first time I read the book and I refer back to it often. It gives great insight on dealing with stress and events in life we tend to resist. “Let your spiritual path become the willingness to let whatever happens make it through you, rather than carrying it into the next moment. That doesn’t mean you don’t deal with what happens. You’re welcome to deal with it, yet first let the energy make it through you. If you don’t you will not actually be dealing with the current event, you will be dealing with your own blocked energies from the past. You will not be coming from a place of clarity, but from a place of inner resistance and tension.” Life can have its fair share of stressful problems or situations and with the right perspective they can serve us as merely stepping stones in our spiritual journey.
My wish for you is to find a book to enjoy this summer that lights you up, inspires you and bring you joy. Possibly circling back to a book you read in the past can be exactly that! Happy reading my friends!!