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Inspiring

Continuing my exploration of the Tudor period with this #doublespin choice. I bought it after hearing the author on a history panel discussing Henry VIII and enjoyed the last book I read by her (tagged in comments.) @TheAromaofBooks

I‘m not very religious but I feel the author offers some very practical advice here, much of it based on humbling experiences from her own life. It‘s still hard to believe the scathing remarks she was subjected to simply because she called for compassion.

For years now, we‘ve zoomed past McKay‘s on our way back home from our new home 7 hours away. But today, TODAY, I finally got to stop in for just a quick minute. It. Is. EVERYTHING!!! I want heaven to be just like this but with good coffee and dogs running everywhere. Utter perfection 🤗🤓

I was engrossed by this quiet story of a woman who sets aside her career to join a religious community, less for spiritual reasons than for reasons she can‘t quite explain. I enjoyed its descriptions of community and religious life, and loved the quiet pace of the story and its meditations on memory, grief, and loss. It‘s thoughtful and reflective ⤵️

SUCH a powerful book. Steven Charleston is a (now retired) Episcopal bishop and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation. This book tells a bit of his journey to integrate and faithfully follow both paths of his spiritual heritage. The first half of the book gives background for the second half, as Charleston orients the reader in his faith and Native heritage, contextualizing Christianity in terms of Native American perspectives and traditions. ⤵️

Not really what I was expecting. It was more like an exploration of religions and mythologies and stories.

This book was an eye opener. Many of my family members are evangelical, Pentecostal and assorted charismatic denominations. I wondered how could these people of moral principle support Donal Trump and never see his warts. They see him as God‘s chosen. A modern day Cyrus from the Bible. They believe we are in a war and must get Trump and Christians into all aspects of life. A battle to fight. They instigated the storming of the Capital.

"To love one person with a private love is poor and miserable: to love all is glorious."
-Thomas Traherne, "Centuries of Meditations"