Re-defining Significance
by mansii
Who doesn't need to be reminded to recognize the beauty of small moments? Two new books reflect upon ordinary living, re-defining significance.
Christie Purifoy gave up her career and a steady paycheck to buy an old brick farmhouse with a plot of ground, and pursue her dream of re-building it into a home. Structured as reflections divided into the four seasons, Roots and Sky traces Christie's journey toward homecoming: the tired days, the depressed months, the fists-at-the-sky tantrums, and the oh-so-thankful glimpses of what is “adding up to something astonishing.” Christie’s story is crafted by memoir, so it unfurls through her own dreams, and lessons learned, but she touches longings that we all share. She hears God's voice in chipped paint, snowflakes, and scratched bannisters, and listening in reminds us to open our ears too. Her life includes many things mine does not: children, a house, or a green thumb. But everything in her pages declare that the world is full of good gifts, and the weight of significance rests in peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.
J Ellsworth Kalas, Former Professor and President of Asbury Theological Seminary, passed away last November. A prolific writer, Kalas left us with the fruit of a life he sought to live fully in one last book released in February, The Pleasure of God. This slim volume is divided into twenty-two chapters, each pondering one of the many ordinary tasks no person can avoid, tasks which, by necessity, make up the majority of our time. We cook a meal, shower, walk to the car and shop for groceries. And then we sleep. Would we be closer to God if we could avoid so many earth-bound pursuits and concentrate on weightier matters? Kalas argues “no." He shows how these ordinary activities can be the very space where God draws near.
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