A Million Miles in a Thousand Years in Twenty Four Hours

My mom discouraged my reading.  Because when I read, I didn't do anything else.  I learned my default parenting skills from my mom.  Once I  grounded my daughter for reading after she was supposed to be in bed.  I'm happy to report that she lived.  (We all have scars from our childhood.  They give us something to talk to our siblings about at family get-togethers.)

My resolution to read 2 books a month is going very well.  Obviously, the key to resolutions is to resolve to do something you love.  In fact, I have had to edit the resolution to limit the number of books I can read to two a month.  I am done with April. 

Yesterday the STP got two new books from Amazon.com.   I picked up one called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years : What I Learned While Editing My Life. By Donald Miller.   And I opened it and I read a few chapters.  And then this morning I picked it back up and sat down with a dog in my lap and finished it before the mail came.  It isn't really a story book as much as a book about story.  I earmarked 6 pages. Here are my highlights:

If I have a hope, it's that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, Enjoy your place in my story.  The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it as I have created you. p 59

AND

...great stories go to those who do not give in to fear....fear isn't only a guide to keep us safe;  it's also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.  p 108

AND

A good movie has memorable scenes, and so does a good life.

AND

It's interesting that in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the only practical advice given about living a meaningful life is to find a job, enjoy your marriage, and obey God.  It's as God is saying, Write a good story, take someone with you, and let Me help.  pp 246-247

I'm going to go ahead and get my kayak.  Like my daughter says, "We will either have a good time or a good story."  And sometimes we would rather have the story.