"Reflection requires stillness.

One cost of rushing from thing to thing is that you lose the space to think. Hard work matters, but nonstop motion often hides a quiet truth: you could have used your time better.

If you never pause, you confuse activity with effectiveness. Make time to think. Walk outside. Sit quietly. Create space. Then move again, but this time on purpose."

"When things don't go well it's easy to wonder, "Why me?" It's easy to point fingers. It's easy to wallow in frustration or defeat.

But it is also easy to ask, “What is this teaching me?”

You can’t remove the frustrations from life, but you can always try to come out a little wiser on the other side."

This is from James Clear’s weekly email. “What is this teaching me?”

Such a key question.

It is so refreshing to simply listen to music and read some non-fiction after a full Sunday.

Currently reading: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Finished reading: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson 📚

The second book of the Mistborn trilogy. It’s such a fun read and the characters are just a blast!

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” - Simone Weil

I think of this in terms of presence. “Presence” is the word I would drop in there for “attention.”

I just got this in the mail today! I am excited to dive in. It promises to be one of the better books I will read this year.

Want to read: The Vision of Ephesians by N. T. Wright 📚

“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” - Virginia Woolf

I ran across this quote in my reading today and it really struck me:

“Let us, since we are travelers and pilgrims in this world, keep the end of our road always on our minds — for the road is our life, and its end is our home.” - Columbanus

Currently reading: Dominion by Tom Holland 📚

This was a fun read! It kind of felt like reading source material for The Boys, but skipping some of the more depraved stuff.

Finished reading: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson 📚

“Everyone has the will to win. Not everyone has the will to prepare.” - Bobby Knight

This quote by Otis Moss Jr, a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr,

“Let it be forever remembered that all racism and hate lead to genocide, (Professor George Kelsey taught us this decades ago), past, present and future. In a society of hate no one is safe. The haters and the hated are in constant danger.

However, Love, Justice, Liberation, Transformation and Reconciliation must be our abiding commitment. This commitment must be kept alive and active from generation to generation.

Our prayer must forever remain: Dear God, make me too brave to hate and too courageous to be unkind.”

Finished reading: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson 📚

This was another fun read in the Cosmere! I am excited to read the next in the series. It’s a welcome change of pace from the non-fiction that I am constantly reading.

Currently reading: Dominion by Tom Holland 📚

I just finished the preface. Let me tell you, I think this book is going to be epic. I’ve heard a number of interviews with Holland (a self avowed atheist) and the premise of the text, that Christianity is more disruptive on the stage of world history than we realize is profound.

Finished reading: Slow Theology by A. J. Swoboda and Nijay Gupta📚

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I highly recommend it!

Currently reading: Slow Theology by A. J. Swoboda 📚

This book! Whew.

“Few things shape us more than the questions we spend our life pondering… the deepest questions do not necessarily deserve quick answers. In fact, the quick answer very well may cheapen the sacredness of a holy question.”