The Sweet Spot

It's that time again where I tell you about the latest book I'm reading! I always give you that warning to choose to tune out. Some people just aren't readers. That's okay with me. Maybe you're a talker, a doer, a street smart kinda person. It's all good, but I gotta have me some books!

So, this title jumped out and grabbed me, as well as the beautiful golden retrievers on the cover...."Cure For the Common Life", by none other than Max Lucado. I just started the book a few days ago, and already I'm thinking of my life in a whole new way.

I get all tangled up in my daily life, as far as my chores, my errands, the lives of my girls, where we have to be, what we have to do, what's due, what's late, what stinks, and on and on. Somewhere in all of the whoopty doo is my life. Somewhere in there is a gifted woman, trying to get out. That woman is me!

I met her today, as she answered some of the pertinent questions in this book. Here are just a few:

1. What have I always done well?
2. What did I enjoy doing as a child?
3. What is it that creates pure energy in me?
4. What do I love to do?
5. What makes me say, "YES! This is what I was made for!!"

It forced me to take a minute and take some inventory. It's been awhile since I've thought about those things. Somewhere in my wifely motheringness, I forgot there was someone else in there. Someone who was created for a specific purpose. Am I out there being "me"? According to Max, the world misses out if I'm not.

Without quoting the whole chapter, I think it's important to understand that my "being me" has less to do with pleasing me and more to do with pleasing God. We are created to glorify Him, not ourselves. Having said that, picture 3 circles. One says, "My everyday life", another says, "God's Glory", and the last one says, "My strengths". Where these three circles intersect is called your "Sweet Spot", where all of these things come together and work as one.

This is what Max defines as the "cure for the common life". When we realize that our uniqueness, being used in order to glorify God in our everyday lives,using the gifts we were given, is all we need to live our lives to the fullest.

I hope I've intrigued you enough to give this book a try. One thing I always do when starting a new book is I always start a notebook. In it, I answer the questions presented in the book, write down the scriptures, and copy down pertinent quotes or ideas. It helps me to take the knowledge a bit further and actually use it.

It was no surprise that I used that practice as the answer to one of my questions, "what do you love to do?" Read and study!! Maybe I'm meant to be a perpetual scholar. Who knows? Maybe by the last chapter of Max's book I'll have it all figured out!!

If you're a "bookie" too, share your favorite titles with me!