For that one person following me, you know I have all these stacks around my room I was trying to work through. Well, once I started the 90 day challenge and then got off track with book club I figured that whole plan of reading around the series' was going to go kaput. But then there was a strange twist of fate that allowed me to start reading from the Tending Roses stack so I jumped in. My mom had raved about how this was one of her favorite books in a long while so I was anxious to read it.
The summary from Amazon pretty much covers the basics of what happened, but it was how it happened that I loved. There were two particular quotes that stuck out to me.
The first one is from some writings Grandma Rose was doing to "speak" to Katie as she relived memories of her childhood. In this particular one, Breaking, Grandma told about troubles her and her husband had early on in their marriage and how they worked through them. In the end she said this,
Sometimes we must try to view the actions around us
with forgiveness. We must realize that
they are going on the only road they can see.
Sometimes we cannot raise our chins and see eye to eye, so we must bow
our heads and have faith in one another.
That one really opened my eyes to issues I have with a certain person. I need to let go of what I am trying to make them see what I see and realize they can't even see my road, as I can't see theirs. We need to bow our heads together to find a new road.
Secondly, at Grandma Rose's 90th birthday party someone asked her what her secret was for living for so long. After thinking a good long while she said,
“The secret to a happy life
is not in getting what you want. It is
in learning to want what you get. Don’t
waste your time crying over what you’re not given. When you have tears in your eyes, you can’t
see all the beautiful things around you.”
How many of us are crying over what we do not have and don't even want what we have? How many of us have something amazing and can't even enjoy it, because it is not what we think we want. Ouch.
The lessons that most enrich our lives often come at unexpected moments and from unlikely places. That’s what Katie Benson learns when she moves temporarily—with her husband Ben and baby son—to her grandmother’s Missouri farm. She arrives at a time of crisis and indecision—struggling with the demands of being a new mother, a not-so-new wife, and a well-meaning but often impatient granddaughter. The family has assigned her and Ben the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who’s become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off the land that means so much to her and into a nursing home. Katie knows such a change would break her grandmother’s heart. But what is right for her grandmother? And what is right for herself and her family?
Just when Katie despairs of finding answers, she discovers her grandmother’s journal. A beautiful handmade notebook, it is full of heartwarming stories that celebrate the virtue of patience, the power of love, and the importance of family, friendship, and faith. Stories that make Katie see her life—and her grandmother—in a completely new way…and lead her toward a new, more meaningful future… (picture and description from amazon)
I finished Isaiah on the way down to Disney and really wanted to keep up but that was next to impossible. I will be spending the next several days catching up before I can stick my nose into another non-Bible book!
Keep Reading!
O:)
Melissa
No comments:
Post a Comment