Count Your Blessings... Something Old, Something New

Books, of course.

I have found many blessings at the hands of books, old ones and new ones.  Currently, I have a little stack on my nightstand:  The Lost Books of the Bible, The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross, Sitting Still by Patricia Hart Clifford, Alone Together by Sherry Turckle and The Bible.

Something old:

Well, the Bible would fulfill this one - the Lost Books of the Bible as well.  I would have to put the St. John of the Cross book in the semi-old category.

Something new:

The One Straw Revolution is a book about a Japanese farmer who doesn't cultivate, till, fertilize per say, use chemicals or weed and has tremendous success.  He's a bit of a thinker/philosopher and worth the read whether you are interested in his 'no-farming' methods of farming or not.

Alone Together is subtitled Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other.  Sherry Turkle is a psychoanalytic psychologist who has been studying the effects of technology on mankind for many years.  Oh, very interesting indeed!

Sitting Still is a book about christian meditation and one woman's pursuit of what she calls 'Christian zen'.  This book drew my attention because of my deep desire to grow in my quietness before the Lord.  I have only gotten through the introduction so far, but am looking forward to getting into the encouragement of the book.

I don't know what my problem is, but I usually have several books going at once.  I've often thought I should and even planned on limiting myself to one at a time.  It seems that it would be better to focus on one and get all that you can out of it and then move on.  I can't seem to accomplish that goal.

These types of books keep me thinking.  Keep me challenged.  They give me encouragement.  They truly are blessings.

I think that it's an interesting conversation starter to ask someone what they have been reading.  It tells us something about one another.

From me to you, many continued reading blessings!