What We’re Reading Lately (WWRL)

Do you have a stack of unread books, staring at you, mocking you? …just reminds me of piles of laundry, dishes in the sink, and paperwork on the counter. Sometimes all of this unfinished business starts. to. make. me. crazy! Don’t get me wrong I love books! So we’ve begun to play nice with that snarky stack of books again. The words here have connected with our hearts, and so we share just a few of them now, with you:

Gail

“Fiction is a plunge into reality not an escape from it.” Flannery O’Connor, “The Letters of Flannery O’Connor”

The number one criticism I hear about fiction is that it is more profitable to read something “real”. This is such a huge misunderstanding. Truths that I have gained from fiction have changed my life.

Carrisa

“To be cynical is to be distant. While offering a false intimacy of being ‘˜in the know,’ cynicism actually destroys intimacy. It leads to a creeping bitterness that can deaden and even destroy the spirit‘¦

“A praying life is just the opposite. It engages evil. It does not take no for an answer. The psalmist was in God’s face, hoping, dreaming, asking. Prayer is feisty. Cynicism, on the other hand, merely critiques. It is passive, cocooning itself from the passions of the great cosmic battle we are engaged in. It is without hope‘¦

“Cynicism is the air we breathe, and it is suffocating our hearts. Unless we become disciples of Jesus, this present evil age will first deaden and then destroy our prayer lives, not to mention our souls. Our only hope is to follow Jesus as he leads us out of cynicism.” A Praying Life, by Paul Miller.

Britta

We love reading together for school! In homeschool, we are studyingWWII. Our current book is set in Holland, during the Nazi occupation. Yesterday’s assignment included an conversation between the young hero, Joris, and the Parish priest. Joris asks Father Kobus why God has not made the Allies win the war…

“He will, He will,” the priest assured him. “They are winning. But it won’t solve anything for long. Wars never do. The evil is inside, and has to be conquered inside. That is where God works. It is in your heart that the Lord will conquer.” The Winged Watchman, by Hilda von Stockum