Beauty in the Binding: April 2022

Friday, April 29, 2022

Book Review: All That It Takes by Nicole Deese

About the Book:

When the ever-cautious Val Locklier moves cross-country with her son for a secure job, everything she'd planned unravels within the first week. After Val reluctantly agrees to rent an apartment from her best friend's brother, an unexpected chance at an elite filmmakers' mentorship ignites fresh hope for a dream career. But as Val's community begins to expand, so do her insecurities, especially those heightened by her growing attraction to a certain friendly landlord.

Pastor Miles McKenzie returns home from a short-term mission trip to discover that not only does he have an intriguing new tenant living upstairs, he's also been reassigned to a local ministry on life support. Disillusioned and restless, he distracts himself by throwing his energy into a host of new projects--not the least of which is pursuing Val--without stopping to consider the future.

As Val struggles to stop hiding behind the camera and Miles wrestles with shattered expectations, they'll find that authentic love and sacrifice must go hand in hand.

Read an excerpt from All That It Takes by Nicole Deese on the publisher's website.

My Thoughts:

Theoretically, All That It Takes by Nicole Deese lines up with my bookish ideals. The flowing prose evidenced the author’s skill with words. The novel bravely tackled heavy topics (disillusionment, unplanned pregnancy, sharing one’s story, etc.) with compassion. Occasional wisdom-filled statements made me stop and consider a spiritual truth. Yet, it took me over three weeks to read All That It Takes. The plot felt slow to me. I didn’t connect with Val until around page 200, when she explained partial details surrounding her pregnancy to both Miles and the reader.

All That It Takes by Nicole Deese possessed positive qualities and concluded with a stunningly beautiful ending. I know many fellow readers love this book, but it is not a favorite of mine. 3.5 Stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the author or publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Book Review: The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson

About the Book:

Reading Great Literature as a Spiritual Discipline.

How do we become better people? Initiatives such as New Year's resolutions, vision boards, thirty-day plans, and self-help books often fail to compel us to live differently. We settle for small goals--frugal spending, less yelling at the kids, more time at the gym--but we are called to something far greater. We are created to be holy.

Award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson explains that learning to hear the call of holiness requires cultivating a new imagination--one rooted in the act of reading. Learning to read with eyes attuned to the saints who populate great works of literature moves us toward holiness, where God opens up a way of living that extends far beyond what we can conjure for ourselves. Literature has the power to show us what a holy life looks like, and these depictions often scandalize even as they shape our imagination. As such, careful reading becomes a sort of countercultural spiritual discipline.

The book includes devotionals, prayers, wisdom from the saints, and more to help individuals and groups cultivate a saintly imagination.

Read an excerpt from The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson on the publisher's site.

My Thoughts:

Reading The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints by Jessica Hooten Wilson felt like revisiting my college English major days, but better. Through her examinations of literary texts, the author shows that reading and considering literature aids the believer in the calling of being a saint (see 1 Corinthians 1:2 NKJV). Although I previously read only one of the books discussed, I never felt confused because the author summarized each literary work as she conveyed her thoughts about spiritual issues. I did learn some plot spoilers.

I enjoyed each chapter in The Scandal of Holiness, but Chapter 3 (Creation Care as a Holy Calling) rated as my favorite. Chapter 8 (Ars Moriendi) impacted and challenged me the most as it addressed the concept of dying well. This topic and the points presented stuck with me. The end of each chapter included a devotional section with Scripture, book quotes, prayers of the saints, reflection questions, and suggestions for further reading.

The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson focuses mainly on modern works of literature. A few examples: Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, C. S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength, Georges Bernanos’ The Diary of a Country Priest. The author explained in the introduction that she incorporated works from various faith traditions (Protestants, Roman Catholics, Orthodox Church, etc.) Stories from the Catholic tradition seemed the most common, and I found them interesting. The author expounded her thoughts clearly and without antagonism for opposing opinions. Even when I disagreed with a point, I respected and considered her view, in part due to the excellent presentation.

The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson is the type of book I could read annually. I enjoyed and learned from it. My personal take-away was that reading and considering well-written literature can influence a believer’s perspective and spur him or her forward in pursuit of the calling to be a saint (1 Corinthians 1:2 NKJV). The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints by Jessica Hooten Wilson receives five stars from me.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the author or publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Book Spotlight& Giveaway: Turn My Mourning Into Dancing by Henri Nouwen

Turn My Mourning into Dancing JustRead Blog Blitz

Welcome to the Blog Blitz for Turn My Mourning Into Dancing by Henri Nouwen, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: Turn My Mourning Into Dancing

Author: Henri Nouwen

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: March 8, 2022

Genre: Christian, Spiritual Growth, Grief

How do you find hope in hard times? Why is it important to have hope during difficult times? Turn My Mourning into Dancing will help you survive the difficult seasons and learn how to live a full life in the midst of them and beyond. With practical advice, Henri Nouwen will gently point you towards a way of life that is grounded in God’s constancy and rooted within eternal hope.

In this updated edition, Turn My Mourning into Dancing discusses five movements we experience during hard times:

• From Our Little Selves to a Larger World

• From Holding Tight to Letting Go

• From Fatalism to Hope

• From Manipulation to Love

• From a Fearful Death to a Joyous Life

Healing begins with taking our pain out of its diabolic isolation and seeing our sufferings in communion with all humanity, and all creation. Nouwen teaches us that our little lives participate in something much larger. Turn My Mourning into Dancing is a must read for:

• men and women looking for growth and insight on life

• anyone going through the grief process and searching for real solutions

• anyone who has experienced a loss, betrayal, or hard times

Everyone grieves differently. It is a process, not a science experiment. Mourning shouldn’t last forever. Do you want the kind of life that allows you to dance even in the middle of the darkest night? Get the answers and find hope within your hard times with Nouwen’s works on spiritual growth.

EXCERPT

From Holding Tight to Letting Go.

For years I have loved watching trapeze artists. The love began when my then- eighty- nine- year- old father came for a visit. Let’s go to the circus, we decided one day. That evening we watched five South African trapeze artists—three fliers and two catchers. They danced in the air! The fliers soared and all was dangerous until they found themselves caught by the strong hands of their partners. I told my father that I had always wanted to fly like that, that perhaps I had missed my calling!

I am constantly moved by the courage of my circus friends. At each performance they trust that their flight will end with their hands sliding into the secure grip of a partner. They also know that only the release of the secure bar allows them to move on with arcing grace to the next. Before they can be caught, they must let go. They must brave the emptiness of space.

Living with this kind of willingness to let go is one of the greatest challenges we face. Whether it concerns a person, possession, or personal reputation, in so many areas we hold on at all costs. We become heroic defenders of our dearly gained happiness. We treat our sometimes inevitable losses as failures in the battle of survival.

The great paradox is that it is in letting go, we receive. We find safety in unexpected places of risk. And those who try to avoid all risk, those who would try to guarantee that their hearts will not be broken, end up in a self- created hell. C. S. Lewis wrote in The Four Loves,

To love at all is to be vulnerable…If you want to make sure of keeping [your heart] intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket of your selfishness. But in that casket— safe, dark, motionless, airless— it will change. It will not be broken—it will become unbreak-able, impenetrable, irredeemable…The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from the danger of love is Hell.

In so many ways, the more we insist on control and the more we resist the call to hold our lives lightly, the more we have to deny the reality of our losses and the more artificial our existence becomes. Our belief that we should grasp tightly what we need provides one of the great sources of our suffering. But letting go of possessions and plans and people allows us to enter, for all its risks, a life of new, unexpected freedom.

How can we live with greater willingness to let go? Another step in turning our mourning into dancing has to do with not clutching what we have, not trying to reserve a safe place we can rest in, not trying to choreograph our own or others’ lives, but to surrender to the God whom we love and want to follow. God invites us to experience our not being in control as an invitation to faith.

Taken from “Turn My Mourning into Dancing: Finding Hope During Hard Times” by Henri Nouwen. Copyright 2001 Estate of Henri Nouwen. Preface Copyright 2001 Timothy Jones. Used with permission from Thomas Nelson Publishing. www.thomasnelson.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996) was the author of With Open Hands, Reaching Out, The Wounded Healer, Making All Things New, and many other bestsellers. He was the senior pastor of L’Arche Daybreak in Toronto, Canada, a community where men and women with mental disabilities and their assistants create a home for one another.

TOUR GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive two print copies of Turn My Mourning into Dancing (one to keep, one to give!)!

Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight April 26, 2022 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on May 3, 2022. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022