The Shack, Book Review, Kind of.

I have a co-worker that I discuss books with. I love it. We talk about what we're currently reading and what we have read, of course we make recommendations to each other as well. A few months back she told me about this book called The Shack, by William P. Young. I was in the middle of reading something else and told her it would be my next great read. (That's what I call all my books, there's something special about every book I read, why not call them all great?) I had no idea what I was in for, but it turned out to be an amazing book. I actually am almost finished reading the second time through. My husband even got it on audio and listened to it, so that we could talk about it. He ended up loving the book as well. If you haven't read it, I recommend it to everyone.

I'm sure I am going to give away some of the book, so I apologize in advance. I don't know where to begin. The overview a man takes his children on a camping trip, the daughter is kidnapped. After searching for her, all they end up finding is her red summer dress and a substantial amount of her blood in this Shack. Years later he receives a letter in the mail from God asking him to join him at the Shack. The man goes back and forth in his mind about whether he is actually going to go. He ends up going and meets God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the flesh. It is beautifully written and it lets you know that the Holy Spirit works through us. You have to read it to understand exactly what I am talking about.

The book breaks down sterotypes that we have in our head about God and helps us to understand the relationship that he wants us to have with him. It truly is magnificent  how much love God has for all of us, he loves us imperfections and all. The wonderful thing about having a relationship with God, is that once we have truly experienced a real relationship with God, Grace accepts us as we are but is too powerful and too transformative to leave us as we are (Johnnie Moore). The book is very eye opening. It definitely taught me a lot and I'm trying to incorporate them into everyday life. I want God to be involved in every aspect of my life,working on that. I learned that we have to learn to forgive the things that we deem "unforgiveable", no matter how difficult. We are not of this world remember? We are to show love and walk in love. It's not always easy, but it makes life easier. Think about if everyone tried to do that how much better things would be.

I just think the book was brilliant. It was one of those books that you have to pay attention to. I loved it. It helped me open my heart and my mind more.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the book, " Evil is a word that we use to describe the absence of good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of life. Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and God; they do not have any actual existence, I am the Light and I am Good. I am Love and there is no darkness in me. Light and Good actually exist. So removing yourself from me will plunge you into darkness Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself, from me: Life
Sarayu, The Shack.


I would love to hear some comments from some of you that have read the book.
Did you like the book? What did you like? What didn't you like?

Pretty is as Pretty does.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I really don't think I truly understood the truth in that statement until I was good and grown. We live in a society that OBESSES about their outwardly appearance.I meet students who are so caught up in the now. What's new? What's in right now? They have to have certain clothes and/or shoes. I know grown folks who are so caught up in skin color, hair; good hair/bad hair, clothes etc. Are we so caught up in appearances that we've forgotten to teach our kids to be beautiful people on the inside? Have we forgotten to teach children to be courteous, kind, nice, caring, giving and to have manners?


 I am a substitute teacher for a few different districts. A few weeks ago the Jr. high students were called into the library for a meeting. The principal had to talk to them about their attitudes and behavior. He said recently a majority of you have been talking about the newest shoes, trading shoes, and discussing the newest clothes. You have been disrupting your class and have put down some of your classmates for not having the newest shoes and clothes. If this continues your first offense is an after school, next is a Saturday detention and if you continue to be  a disruption you could get yourself a suspension. If you start off making your classmates feel bad, you'll skip straight to a Saturday. Honestly, I was just looking like, he seriously had to waste class time to lecture these students. Sitting there looking around, most of the students were rolling there eyes and pretending the pay attention.

I just never saw the point in making fun of someone that doesn't have the same material things that you have. Seriously?  You didn't buy that stuff, your parents did. But why do I want to own the SAME thing that you own? (Another blog, coming soon.) How do you get pleasure out of making others feel crappy about themselves? I was one of those kids who did'nt wear name brand anything. The only thing you caught us in that was name brand was probably the shoes on our feet. Nikes.  That was only sometimes. It's not about the brand name that is on the clothes, it's about the person behind the clothes. How we can we expect children to know this, if a large amount of adults don't know that to be true?

Adults are like that as well, but I seem to encounter the funky attitude adults. The adults who have bad days and try to take it out on everyone else around them. When teachers meet with some of there students parents, you then start to understand where the attitude come from.

When do we start molding little people who are just sweet, caring, nice just beautiful on the inside?
The same goes for adults when dating, stop being so obssessed about how your partner looks? Focus on how they make you feel? are they nice? Is he a gentleman/lady? Does he/she stimulate me mentally? Is he/she nice to other people? We have to stop OBSSESSING, once you let inner beauty shine, man it shines outward and that person is beautiful. We've all seen those beautiful people with stank ass attitudes, makes them look UBER ugly and seriously only shallow people are going to stay around you. The sad truth is that people will continue to deal with people because of how they look. They'll put up with certain behaviors or whatever purely based on your looks. Is that the kind of person you want to be?

When does it start to be about something more than just how people look? The people who march to their own drummer and tend not to follow what's "In", those are the caring, nice, sweet, giving people. Parents have to stop being so focused on getting their child the newest this, and that. We have to make sure we're doing a good job raising great people, so they can teach their children the same way. Teach our children to be thoughtful and that it's ok to be giving. It would make the world a better place. (<--- Corny, but so true.) But then again, we are in a society where outward beauty is everything, and stepping on whoever you have to, to get where you need to be; that is the accepted way of things right?

It's been raining for a while now, April showers bring may flowers. Behind our place is a big field, so with the rain comes TONS of worms; they wash out into our parking lot. A few days ago, my mini Captain Planet had me running late for work because she was picking up worms in the parking lot and putting them in grass, she said,"I have to save them." She did not want them to be rolled over by the cars. I just thought, we are doing such a great good job, we are raising such a caring child, one that takes time to rescue worms. Later when I got home we put our things inside the house and walked up and down the sidewalk rescuing worms. We even stood there and watch one slide from one side to the other. Now Kolby is beautiful on the inside. My dream for us when we start having more children is that they all are different skin colors, with different texture hair, because I don't want you paying attention to how they are physically, I want people to walk away and say hey, now that's a great person. Let's teach our children to show love and walk in love. Once you start living like that, life seems to get a tad bit easier.

What do you think? Are we so caught up in appearances that we've forgotten to raise beautiful children?  Are we so caught up in appearances that we end up with someone that's just merely physically beautiful? Have you tried to show love and walk in love to people you deem undeserving?