SABBATH SNAPSHOT : A Li-TEA-rary Ballad for Christmas

Remember, this is a review---not necessarily a recommendation. For me, Sharyn McCrumb's , Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past, was an "It's OK" rating."

However, according to "goodreads" reviews, I'm in the minority. One reviewer gave it 4 out of 5 stars stating, "McCrumb at her best with two parallel stories centered around Christmas Eve." I, have read several of McCrumbs books and like her ballad-type writing and her Appalachian setting for many of her books. This novella was "sweet" but a little too predictable for me.

Also, on my "Christmas stack" is A Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans of the "Walk Series," which I liked. 

I'll let you know if I like this one---since like McCrumb's book proves, I don't always like every book an author writes.
"So many books so little time" has had me not finishing books, when a story "takes a turn" I don't like. This is a relatively new choice for me---it must go along with being a Medicare card holder----time is too short for mediocrity.

Dispari-TEA

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good (Genesis 50:20, NIV)

Often our life journeys don't take us where we think we're headed. That was certainly true in Joseph's life when  his own brothers threw him in a wilderness pit and later sold him.
In our own lives we can be shocked and think, "This is not the movie I bought my ticket for." Terminal illness. An unfaithful spouse. Chronic pain. An addicted child. What good can come from this? Where are God's blessings for my life?

If one has lived a moral life of serving God and others, he/she can mistakenly assume that such behavior will protect him/her from calamity.

Tragedy seems inconsistent with godliness. Seemingly, there's such disparity.

It's easy to take verses of scripture that seem to honor wise living and overlook the parts that follow.
"....in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation."(John 16:33, NIV) Christians are not exempt from tribulation----those hard parts of life. We just have to trust God and keep reading....and understand that when God says "Take heart....." or "Wait,"He is there in the midst with us.

"There's a difference between reading a map and traveling the road---as distinct as the disparity between reading a menu and and eating a meal." (Miles to Go, p.5)

In a life well-lived, one can still be served some inconsistencies of adversity and affliction----But God....is in those intersections of dispari-TEAs.

Life is a continuous journey. Continue to live it well. And......If along the way, life serves you a big cuppa dispari-TEA, just sweeten it with God's grace.

Then...leave that cuppa in His hands.

SABBATH SNAPSHOT: Liberali-TEA

1/5/14 Allowing for a little poetic license, I am expressing thanks to "trusted" friends who practice liberality in giving freely to my reading life. "Word of mouth"book reviews from such friends are the best gifts for me.

It's the way I discovered Beth's recommended author, Charles Martin. The Mountain Between Us was my first "audio" read and probably my favorite. However his most recent, Unwritten, is one of his "best yet" as well. Of course, that could be because it's the one I've most recently read. "Best yet" term has been coined by my friend, Lo, as relating to the most recent event or experience in one's life. A term easily used with books.

These  friends of "liberality"give recommendations for books and sometimes loans from their own collection, i.e. The Last Jihad, series which I'm still reading. How I love for someone to share an"old to them, new to me," series. Well told stories, in a sequence, that allow one to get to know the characters and the locale. Even if not deemed necessary, I like to start with the first one.

That's what I plan to do on these next few days of possible hibernation. The Walk series, a WH rec, will be opened and savored as I sip my tea & read throughout these next snowy (?) cold days.

I've only read the prologue but I gave myself permission to leisurely continue when I read, " To me it's one man's journey to find hope." (Evans, p.3)

"Liberali-TEA!" A great cuppa to share with book lovin' friends!