New Book

My blogging grandaughter, Cynthia, told me that her inspiration to blog often comes from books that she is reading. This is true for me too. I’d say that books also provide for me inspiration to live wisely, lovingly, peacefully, sensibly. Books are the friends who come along just when I need them. The ones I love the most are those where I can feel the life of the author. I know he or she has often learned their marvelous life lessons through painful experiences. Self-awareness and wisdom come at a price.

Jesus often used the metaphor of gardening when he taught. He talked about seeds, planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, and enjoying the fruits. I have come to understand this metaphor and it seems that my life is an endless cycle of the seasons of the garden. Recently I have been doing lots of weeding and I am getting tired. The weeds will always come back. Yet, we have to keep them at bay long enough to allow our fruitbearing plants to have their way.

Yesterday I went to the library and picked up a book that seems like it may help move me forward: Awakening Joy: 10 Steps That Will Put You in the Road to Real Happiness. by James Baraz and Shoshana Alesander. I don’t recongnize the authors but I am familiar with those who wrote the foreward and preface. I will often choose a book based on those invited to write these introductory pieces or to comment on the back cover. If folks I admire like the book, I expect that I will as well.

As I read this morning, the authors give a small morsel in the introduction that prods me to go on: “Our suffering or well-being is not solely determined by what’s happening in our personal circumstances but to a large degree by our relationship to what is happening…happiness is a choice, and over time we can learn how to make it a habit.”

I hope you all find joy today.