A very favorite book of mine from last year, and a true stand out in general, Sarah Clarkson's Reclaiming Quiet is a gentle, kind gift for someone like me, who often feels like my inner world is loud, overwhelming, and anything but peaceful. This book offered much encouragement, wisdom, and goodness in cultivating and valuing rhythms of quiet and stillness, even in a world gone crazy. She shares on "how to move without hurry, how to look without distraction". If you've not yet picked up this book, I heartily recommend you do so...consider this me gently, but strongly, persuading you to go pick up a copy. Preferably a physical copy, so you can mark it up and underline your favorite bits as I did, and so you can return to it as often as you desire. These are some of my very favorite quotes from this gem of a book...may they encourage you as much as they did me. ♥
I don't think quiet is really about great feats so much as it is about small faithfulnesses.
(page 13)
We are asked to shape our lives, our time, our attention by habits and rhythms radically different from the windblown fury of the broken world. This means an entirely alternate shape of life, not just the subtraction of screens and distractions but the embrace of prayer, of daily wonder, of listening, of trust, of celebration that roots us moment by moment in that deep, watchful quiet that ushers us into the presence of God...I am walking ancient paths in learning the rhythms, the habits, the steps and cadence by which I may root not just my mind but my body, my wearied senses, and my breath in the homeland of quiet.
(page 28)
If I cannot find "earth crammed with heaven" in the forced bulb growing in winter on my windowsill, I will not find it in whole fields of blossoms in abandoned, springtime wandering. I truly believe it's amidst our ordinary stuff that the divine affection cradling our lives is both revealed and enfleshed: in our fierce little acts of kindness, in our humble creations, in moments of intricate or miniature beauty or words offered like water in tiny deserts of our individual loneliness.
(page 61)
Note: Can you see how much that above quote resonated with me as I read At Home in Mitford? A novel celebrating and valuing all that is ordinary and simple and oftentimes hidden right after reading these words of wisdom and truth...I must say reading those two books together, without any forethought or realization at how much they would intertwine, was grace...and a gift. And so very beautiful. ♥
At the heart of recollection is a return to the knowledge of our origins, of God as Maker and Keeper of the whole of our being, a fact to fill us richly with a sense of our lives and the world as gift. Such quiet reminds us that we are not responsible for our own flourishing. Our lives, our healing, our survival, our joy -- all, all is gift.
(page 120)
There are many, many more sections that I could share, but these are just a taster of what this book holds...I will share more of my favorites throughout posts in the coming weeks, months, etc. My hope is that something here resonated with you, whispered to your soul, and touched your heart...if that is the case, please pick up this book. And if you've read this book (and love it as much as I do!), please let me know...I'd love to know your favorite quotes or sections or chapter and what you loved most about it. Let's chat!
Until next week,
many warm blessings to you, my dear readers!