Hello, Spirit!

You just never know when the Holy Ghost will touch your heart..

Last night I finished a book and, like any other time I finish one book, I became excited/nervous about picking a new one.  This may be something only book nerds (such as myself...) understand,  but SO. MUCH. relies on what book you pick next.  You're basically deciding: will the next few days/weeks of reading totally SUCK? or will it blow your mind with awesomeness?!  Sometimes the mere thought of it is too much to handle.

As I was working all day, I thought to myself, "Okay, Lauren.  When you get home tonight, you will pick your next book.  Make sure it will be enjoyable.  Make sure it will be something WORTH reading.  You know what, use that new GoodReads app to help you decide."  You see, I had just spent the last evening/night/mid-morning scanning in ALL of my books in my "personal library" into this AMAZING/REVOLUTIONARY app (GoodReads) and sorting them by "read" or "to read."  I came to find out that I have ~300 UNREAD books in my library!  Bring it on!

But, in typical "Lauren" fashion, I kept putting it off and putting it off until... well, just now.  I finally got off my butt and trudged downstairs to the "library" (okay, in reality, it WAS a man cave and is now just a laundry room with my bookshelves and a futon in it...) and set out to pick my next book.  The first book I picked up was one I had just purchased at a Goodwill today - Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews.  Sounded a little cliche, but readable, so I put that on the "maybe" pile.  Then I reached for a book I've had since last summer - Chicken Soup for the Latter-Day Saint Soul.  I think I bought this after I first discovered Amazon's option for buying used books.

To be honest, I hadn't planned on reading a church-related book.  I usually reserve those books (and the Book of Mormon!) for times of need... or, in terms of the BOM, two chapters every night before bed.  I certainly don't want it to seem like I'm discrediting any church-related books, especially the BOM, but I've just never really had the motivation to read one as a "personal book" yet.  I apologize if this isn't making sense, so I'll try another way of explaining: I usually split my reading into 2 categories: personal and church.  "Church" includes reading 2 chapters from the BOM every night (usually I re-read the chapter I read the night before and add on the next chapter), while personal is any other book that I read.  There, that sounds a little better...

Either way, I thought I'd at least look through Chicken Soup for the LDS Soul and see if it was something I'd like to read for the next few days.  Immediately, I felt a sense of calm and familiarity - just from the Introduction!  It began by inviting every reader to feel welcome and then referenced the types of stories that one could expect to be reading in the upcoming pages.  It referenced different types of church meetings and family activities that this book and the stories in it could be used as lessons and testimony builders.  I was becoming surprised at how these words on a page were making me feel so happy and comfortable!  It was all so familiar!  But it was the first sentence of the third paragraph that really pulled me in:

While I appreciate the non-coincidence of the publishing of this book, it was really "Joseph Smith" and "the Church" that stood out to me from that sentence.  For whatever reason, it was that moment that I felt the Holy Ghost reach out and tap me on the shoulder.  Not literally, of course, but figuratively.  I have read Joseph Smith's name hundreds of times and seen the church referenced like that just a handful of times more, but at no other instance have they jumped off the page at me like they did tonight.  I felt so happy, so calm, and so sure that the Church and the Gospel are true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. 

I usually don't like to say that I am "proud" of my church or "proud" to be a member of the Church for fear of seeming prideful, but dang it, I am proud!  I don't allow it be something that is obnoxious or that gets in the way of my day-to-day life with others, but I am always pleased to let others, members and non-members alike, know that this is who I am: I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I have never been happier!

Book Nook: The Weight of Small Things

I really do hate admitting that I didn't enjoy a book.

I often find myself in the book section of Target reading over some of the new releases or "interesting reads."  Which is exactly where I found this time-sucker... With that being said, Sherri Wood Emmons' THE WEIGHT OF SMALL THINGS was painful to get through.

 

I WANTED to like this book and I TRIED to like this book, but I just couldn't bring myself to get into it.  I had to force myself to get through the book just so I could finish it and move on to another one.  Harsh? Nah... I found this book utterly predictable, boring, cliched, and all the other words that you could use to describe a poorly written book.  

I was intrigued by the main character, Corrie, suffering from not being able to get pregnant.  I was wary when I read something about an old fling coming back into the picture, but bought the book used on Amazon anyway.  And thank goodness I bought it used and not full price!

To sum up the book in as few words as possible:

Corrie is married to "perfect" Mark and they can't get pregnant.

Corrie's best friend, Bryn, finds out she's pregnant by her loser boyfriend, Paul.

Corrie is still hung-up on her college boyfriend, Daniel.

Daniel left Corrie long-ago, and Corrie then found out she was pregnant.

Corrie had an abortion without telling Daniel.

Daniel comes back into the picture after a class reunion.

Corrie flies out to LA to "interview him for an alumni magazine article."

Corrie and Daniel sleep together.

Corrie finds out she's pregnant and isn't sure if it is Daniel's or Mark's.

Corrie tells Mark and he divorces her.

Bryn leaves Paul and moves in with friend, Bob, who is going through a divorce.

Corrie finds out she's is having Daniel's baby.

Bryn and Bob begin dating.

(Asleep yet?!)

Corrie's sister is in an accident and Daniel supports her through it.

 There is a tornado and Corrie goes into early labor.

Daniel flies back out to be with Corrie.

Corrie has the baby early, but it's fine.

Bryn then has her baby.

Bryn and Bob get married.

Mark misses Corrie.

Daniel promises to be with Corrie and their baby.

Corrie chooses Daniel.

Yea, been there, done that, right?!  The whole story was predictable and totally done before.  Not a single character was likeable, not even Bob's kids from his previous marriage.  I know - ouch!  I realize how terribly harsh I'm sounding, but I really think this book was a hugeeeee waste of time.

Dear Martha Beck...

I realize it has been an EXTREMELY long time since I have posted on my blog.  I hope to justify whatever reasons I have for it in another post, but I felt very compelled to write this particular post as soon as possible.

Since I haven't updated my reading list in what seems like a decade, you wouldn't know that I have steamrolled through numerous books since July and am now reading EXPECTING ADAM by Martha Beck.  You can read more about the book by clicking HERE.

Martha Beck (according to the back of the book) is "a writer, life coach, and columnist for O, the Oprah Magazine."  She also has 3 Harvard degrees, a handful of best-seller books, and 3 children.  While she currently lives in Arizona, Beck is originally from Provo, Utah.  Upon her mentioning this in the book, I felt immediately bonded to her under the assumption she was Mormon (like me) and shared the same values that I have as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  As I read on, I realized my naive assumption couldn't have been further from the truth...

You see, Martha grew up in Provo and was a member of the LDS church.  Somewhere along the line, however, Martha left the church... and decided to write a book about it (ah, freedom of speech at its finest!); apparently, that heart-warming best-seller is called LEAVING THE SAINTS: HOW I LOST THE MORMONS AND FOUND MY FAITH.  (Side Note: If only I had paid closer attention to the back page of the book where this tid-bit was advertised before buying Expecting Adam, I would have saved myself a lot of grief and money.)  Now, I have not read more than a blurb about Beck's book LEAVING THE SAINTS, nor do I intend to.  She makes it very clear she desires no continued affiliation with the church or the people of Utah by referring to both as a "bubble" of "religious fanatics"  quite often.  And, so, after I finish this book, I don't desire to have any continued affiliation with her either.

However, what compelled me to write this post so abruptly is not the irony of Ms. Beck calling herself a "life coach" when she willingly abandoned the tools/ability the LDS church provides to actually UNDERSTAND and FULFILL the meaning of life as intended by our Heavenly Father... but instead, my desire to write this post stems from a happening in one of the chapters.  In chapter 11 of this book, Beck and her toddler daughter are saved from their apartment stairwell when a downstairs refrigerator catches fire.  During their decent from the 10th floor, a pregnant Beck is overwhelmed from smoke inhalation and no longer has the strength to continue on.  Miraculously, she feels the strong grip of a firefighter who leads her to safety into a nearby parking lot.  Afterwards, Beck searches for the man who saved her, but cannot find him among the many firefighters that were called to the scene that day.  The following day, Beck sees a classmate's copy of the Boston Herald that displays Beck and her daughter front and center, emerging from the smoke-filled building.  Oddly enough, they are alone.  The man that Beck felt and testified of helping her out of the building at that exact moment is not there - he never existed!

At this moment, I smiled in my mind because I was thinking, "Finally.  Now she will recognize the protection and influence of angels and of the Spirit in her life.  She can't possibly continue to deny it now!"  I read on to the beginning of the 12th chapter and begun to see excerpts like "paranormal assistance," "the 'Something' that helped me down the staircase," and "supernatural beings and protectors."  If Matt had not been quietly researching .22 revolvers next to me in bed, I would have threw the book across the room and utterly LOST it.  Instead I politely discussed it with him and continued to read.  

In the opening paragraphs of chapter 12, Beck doesn't abandon her "anti-Mormon" writing style and continues to project her misunderstood ideas and values (the same ideas and values, I assume, she teaches to the idiotic saps that PAY for her "life coach" experience) onto the reader.  Below are a few of my favorite quotes by dear Martha Beck"

"How many times a day does some poor hapless human REALLY NEED a good supernatural protector and fail to get one?  People are tortured and killed and raped and pillaged on a daily basis, and if there are angels in the vicinity, they apparently just sit around watching - wringing their ectoplasmic little hands, perhaps, but letting nature take its course."

NOTE:  I can only imagine what happened in Beck's early life that lead her to be so cynical and hopeless in her faith and in her faith of angels, but I hope she is able to find peace.

Oh, and here is my favorite excerpt... pay special attention to the bolded statements:

"A great deal of human energy, including mine, has been spent trying to figure out why some people get help from angels and some get lobotomized by flying debris from freak wheat-threshing accidents.  Religious people always seem to have simple formulas to explain this.  If you're very, very good, say the formulas, you can avoid the gods' disfavor and court their assistance.  If you sacrifice a goat, you will be blessed.  If it's the wrong goat - say, one with a gimpy foot - you will be smitten with a pox.  If you join the right church, you will live long and prosper; if you leave it, you are consigned to eternal misery.  Believe me, you don't grow up in Utah without hearing a great deal of this sort of reasoning.  But none of the causal connections I have heard preached by any religion fits the facts as I see them.  All I can say for sure is that whatever supernatural beings are operating around us, they are working from a priority list that is different than mine."

All I can say to that, Martha Beck, is THANK GOODNESS they are working from a priority list different from yours!  I'm sure you must be exhausted from pondering the meaning of life and divine intervention with your 3 Harvard degrees in sociology of gender, but, honey... what you're trying to answer for the world here isn't part of your job description.  There is someone else WAY more equipped to answering our questions and He WILL answer them... to those who are willing and able to accept and listen to Him.  Let me make it easy for you: Study the scriptures - the Bible, the Book of Mormon, etc.  Pray in faith.  Go back to the church which you abandoned and simply LISTEN.  Ignorance isn't bliss.  You will receive answers; I can PROMISE you that.  How do I know this so surely?  Because I was there before, right in your shoes.  I doubted and scoffed at the idea that these so-called "supernatural beings" existed and that there was a Heavenly Father that loved me and knew me.  But, surprisingly enough, I didn't need a mortal life coach to see the plan which these "paranormal beings" have for me, I needed to truly know and love them all in return: Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - the greatest "life coaches" of all.  The blessings that have been given to me and brought to my attention since accepting their existence and their love and the LDS church are absolutely astonishing, and I hope and pray that my loved ones who have not yet accepted all of these things will one day be able to also.  And I also pray that Martha Beck will be able to accept these truths and love again.

Needless to say, this book is and will be difficult to continue to trudge through now with Beck the "all-knowing" life coach spewing her opinions on how religion (or lack thereof) SHOULD be, but I am dedicated to reading the remaining knowledge that she does have on other subjects, such as pregnancy, child birth, and raising a disabled kid.