My husband introduced me to
Shauna Niequist several years ago. He had come across Cold Tangerines as a
recommendation from several friends and wanted to see what all the raving was
about it. We checked it out from the library because that is how our usual
reading material goes and started reading it together. And surprising myself, I
loved it.
Her writing style instantly
became one of my favorites. Her use of life and learning and description
and word choice were perfect and for that, the reading was quite simply
delightful. Like the walking in the clouds kind of delightful - that sparks
memories and inspires.
After reading it, we moved on to
other books and studies and never looked for any other pieces by her.
Until April.
On our two and a half hour,
childless drive to Redding in celebration of my birthday, we
searched for a book to listen to and stumbled over her other books. We chose
Bittersweet and listened, as miles ticked by and blue skies met the mountains,
leaving the valley behind.
And I remembered just how much I
loved the way she birthed stories out of her words and breathed life and
redemption in to the hard seasons for all to hear.
I searched our local library for
other works and came across her devotional, Savor, which takes parts of her
books and turns them in to snippets to ponder and think on, along with a
question or two. One devotional for each day of the year.
So, loving her rhythm of life
that is stitched in to each page, I thought it would be fun and a bit crazy, to
blog through Savor. Sharing a post (hopefully) daily, with grace days laced in
between I'm sure, that corresponds to each day of the devotional, answering her
prompts and questions.
I told the idea to Ricardo, to
which he immediately checked Amazon for the devotional because the library only
lends a book for so long and it just happened to be half off. It arrived in the
mail as an early mother's day present and my biggest writing challenge. I have
struggled with writing consistently and have a tendency to get clammy hands and
for my mind to go blank when given a prompt, so it is a stretch.
I sat with the book the following
morning next to my bible, questioning if I should try this. It is a big
commitment to write every day and to
share it openly. Possibly a little more than I can chew. But it sat there. Already
purchased. A commitment in itself. After more prayer and over analyzing the
whole thing, God urged me forward. He
would provide the words, just as he provides for the birds of the air.
I cannot clearly see what this
will look like, as the questions are scattered with life and God and all the
things in between and I have not read them all because that would be cheating
(right?!), so here's an adventure in writing through Savor. It will probably be messy and random and hopefully laced
with smiles and laughter and honesty, from my heart to yours.
So, starting June 1st, the adventure will commence.
If you would like to blog along,
whether daily or weekly, I would love to have you for the journey; be sure to link back to the post. And if you are not a blogger, you
can join along, too. Just leave your response and answers in the comments.
Here's to savoring the year.