If you’re unfamiliar with my book game, I choose four books based on this old wedding rhyme to share what I’m reading with each of you. In this roundup, these four books offered me invitations to enter new spaces — new rhythms of rest, new rooms, my imagination, and surprising spaces.

Something Old…

Every January, I write out a few reading goals for the year. They always begin the same way: Read Eugene Peterson and Madeleine L’Engle. The good news for me is that these authors were prolific, so there’s always something new to read. This year, I thoroughly enjoyed Peterson’s Reversed Thunder. My old copy was originally my mother’s book, making it even more special.He writes about the book of Revelation, inviting us to listen to John with our imaginations. It’s the best book about Revelation that I have read — I was enthralled from beginning to end. 

Something New…

In 2022, I graduated from Friends University with an M.A. in Christian Spiritual Formation and Leadership. During my coursework, I had the great privilege to learn from Emily. I realized that I happened to be sitting in the room while this book was coming together. Emily gives us a compassionate, gentle approach for navigating life transitions — especially the most unexpected ones.

This book reminded me that life is like a labyrinth. We’ll all experience surprising twists and turns, discovering we are traveling into places we did not expect to go. This book, like Emily herself, is an empathetic guide. It will help you notice and name where you are, what’s  changing, what’s staying the same, and what’s important in the middle of the transition. This book isn’t just for people who are trying to decide whether it is time to move on from one place to another — it is a book for everyone. There’s an invitation here for all of us to be hospitable, charitable companions to the travelers among us and towards ourselves as we journey through life. 

Something Borrowed…

I checked this book out of the library as a resource for a class I was teaching on the practice of Sabbath. It did not disappoint. Haley Barton introduces us to the practice of Sabbath through the lens of her own experience. As always, she’s honest about her own struggles and invites us into her journey to embrace the rhythms of Sabbath. I was particularly struck by the  way she first began practicing Sabbath. She invited her family to participate with her, but she did not force them to join. She left the invitation for a communal Sabbath open, but she also pursued her own individual rhythms. She models so well how invitation is more effective than insistence when it comes to the spiritual disciplines. 

Something Blue…

I love Percy Jackson. I enjoyed reading the first series (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) with our children years ago. I had great fun returning to the world of Percy Jackson in this sequel series (The Heroes of Olympus) during the long days of rain and cold this past spring. The Son of Neptune is the second in the series. In this book, Percy and his friends are once again busy saving the world from monsters and mayhem. But although they are funny, action-packed mythology books, these books are about so much more than just fighting Greek and Roman monsters.  Here’s a short list of what I deeply appreciate in Riordan’s work:

1. The real heroes in these books are the characters who show up with compassion, courage and choose friendship over competition over and over again — not necessarily the ones you’d expect!
2. All of these heroes have flaws and have to make hard choices. Humility, teamwork, and love consistently help them overcome the impossible situations in front of them.
3. There is fighting in the books because of the ever-present threat from the monsters, but the fighting and battles are not gratuitous, which can be rare in some young adult fiction. And if there is ever an opportunity to show mercy or compassion, the main characters choose to do so. 

A note for parents: Riordan does write about LGBTQ+ characters and experiences. I appreciate that, in this book, Riordan offers us the chance to meet a 14-year-old who is struggling with his own identity. Riordan offered me an invitation to grow in empathy and understanding. I also think that this book could be a non-threatening opener into a conversation with your own child about this tender, and sometimes frightening, topic.