I love a good wrap up, so here you’ll find a list of some favorite listens and reads from the past year:
Best Books: For the person who loves a character driven story: Jayber Crow and/or Hannah Coulter. For the person trying to understand Gen Z and cancel culture: The Coddling of the American Mind. For those who love historical fiction: The Island of Sea Women. For someone limping along in their faith: The Good & Beautiful God. For the person who wants to know if God still speaks (He does!): Hearing God (Disclaimer: I’ve only read two chapters of the last book, for grad school, but they were life-changing. You can bet I’ll be finishing this one!)
*I read a lot of so-so fiction in 2021. Next year I’m aiming to stay away from the new, buzzworthy book lists and looking for winners that are tried and true. But if you want to see my full list of books this year, including some of my seminary reads, it’s here.
Best Podcasts: Deconstruction & Doubt with A.J. Swoboda, Dirty Water on Ear Hustle, Bridgetown’s “What is the Gospel?” series, The Decision of My Life, Pantsuit Politics’ The Wellness Industry’s Influence, Beth Moore Didn’t Expect Us to be Us, and God is that Really You? by Love Thy Neighborhood
Best Articles: J.D. Vance and the Great Challenge of Christian Malice / The Great, (Fake) Child Sex-Trafficking Epidemic / Practicing Resurrection in Grave Clothes / The Evangelical Church is Breaking Apart / Clarity vs. Trust
What Worked For Me in 2021: Orange Theory! (It turns out, I like friendly competition and HIIT training. I’m still surprised about it.) / Hiking with friends, hiking as a family, and hiking solo / Winter Saturday mornings talking about Jesus with friends / Weekday lunch dates with Jonathan / A LOT of alone time…this introvert is thriving with kids in school! ;)
Best Moments: Adventures in Alaska, North Carolina and Kansas all by myself / Watching Luke ride a bike for the first time / Teaching our kids to ski in Ashland / Getting vaccinated—all of us! / Lots of clean cancer scans / Seeing my Iron Well girls again after three years / Reading Harry Potter to Owen / Watching Anna swim / Jonathan making partner and celebrating him
Sending you love and peace on the last weeks of 2021 as we inch towards the new year. There’s still much to worry and question, if we let ourselves, but our Helper leads the way and is never surprised. In Him I continue to find consistent joy despite the circumstances. I pray this joy over you and yours today.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash