Why I picked up this book:
I was given the opportunity to review this book because the book’s author, Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, and I have been in a writing community together. Also, I thought the idea of book was smart, and opened doors for important conversations for people to have before taking the plunge of entrepreneurship. I also love the beauty and simply elegance of book’s cover!
Continue reading “Book Review: “Start, Love, Repeat” by @dorcas_ct”
Why I picked up this book:
A better question would be, “Why would I not pick up any book written by Ruth Haley Barton?” I have several books of hers and use them for “check-ins” with myself, to get a pulse on if I’m running too fast, need to listen more intently, or live more deeply. I read through her books slowly, not because they aren’t good, but because it is necessary for me to do so. Reading this book as been a practice in spiritual formation.
Who Should Read Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership:
This book is particularly helpful for leaders, especially those who are living fast-paced and full lives. With prayer, inspirational quotes, thought-provoking questions, spiritual practices and scriptures throughout, it centers us on God, gives good perspective, and invites us into a spiritual rich, and physically and emotionally healthy way of being in the world.
Continue reading “An Invitation to Strengthen the Soul of Your Leadership”
One of the best books I read while attending seminary was Peter Kreeft’s “Back to Virtue: Traditional Moral Wisdom for Modern Moral Confusion.” It feels like a classic, and it is a book that I continue to revisit from time to time. Kreeft begins with a simple question, “Is virtue out of date,” and continues the conversation by asking, “Whatever became of virtue?”
He writes:
Christians like all other sinners, have always been susceptible to vice, but today we no longer seem to know what vice and virtue are.
The solution to the first problem is repentance and divine grace—something a book [and I would add, a blog post] cannot help much with. But the solution to the second problem is knowledge, and there a book can help.
The thing is: virtue must be learned, taught, and practiced. This is how we increase our knowledge. Parents of young children understand this full well. We are in a constant pattern of teaching, correcting, and providing discipline because we love our children, and we want them to grow-up to become virtuous people.
The same is true of our spiritual maturity. When we grow in our understanding of the very spiritual things that we lack, we can then practice what we have learned until that practice becomes a habit, that habit becomes a discipline, and that discipline shapes our character.
When I think of mentoring as intentional discipleship, specifically regarding my mentoring relationships with young people, so much of that service involves leading a virtuous life in front of them (i.e. leading by example), teaching them how to “be” in this world, and then giving them the opportunities to practice or “do” what they have seen modeled and taught.
Continue reading “The Virtues of Love and Kindness in Action”
