I was sent this book for review in the last few months, and I thought it was quite ironic that I decided to pick it up and read it in the final 2-3 days of my annual leave, when I have been careful to turn my email off, taken an overseas break, but then came back to try and do a load of stuff to my new house, then put my paintbrush down and seemed to fall into a stupor … so this book fitted really well with that! Almost like God might have had a hand in the timing, you know…
The book is written in a relaxed style, and I think a lot of those I talk to at Greenbelt and Gathering of Women Leaders would like it. It considers the world in which we live – where everything is about MORE and BIGGER and FASTER, and looks at the possibilities of living SMALLER, and taking time out on a BENCH (not a throne!). Tuesday is picked as the core ‘ordinary day’, as it’s the day when the week is under way, there’s much of it to go, but we’re not getting towards the end of anything – often it’s a day where we can’t see the bigger picture.
There’s an encouragement not to TRY so hard, and to learn how to sit with disappointments and failures, and not always think that’s on the path to something BIGGER… and to count all the small moments that strung together make up our lives – and not just the good small moments, but ALL of them. It did make me question how my desire for a gravestone that says ‘she made a difference’ sits with the capacity to accept an ordinary life! I circled and scribbled on many pages (sorry people who think I am therefore beyond a monster), but here’s a couple of pages that I really wanted to take note of in my passion for encouraging people to seek to share with vulnerability and – yes – authenticity (overused word) online, but with wisdom that not everything is for sharing (my classic – are you happy for God, your parents, any kids, national newspapers and your worst enemies to see anything you publish) see:
Another excellent book designed to help take the pressure off in our frantic 21stC world… (see also Brian Draper and others) (something I’m enjoying with this blog – yes, it may be my ‘professional place’, but also, I can experiment and publish things that are not ‘over-worked’, as is required for academic publications!
This book was provided to me courtesy of Revell Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.