Read:

Two chapters today, Happy New Year and Swimming in Silence (pp. 190-204).   A few quotes that will hopefully pique your curiosity if you haven’t yet read this section, compelling you to play catch up:

Happy New Year ~ “I have a policy of trying new recipes for dinner parties–it’s not a performance; it’s a meal, and I like trying new things.” (p. 190) (<– I’m including that one as a challenge for those of us who are slaves to “tried and true”.  Let’s take a walk on the wild side and try something new, shall we?)

“And that’s what makes a good party–when the evening and the people and the conversation and the feeling in the room are allowed to be whatever they need to be for that night.” (p. 194)

“But entertaining isn’t a sport or a competition.  It’s an act of love, if you let it be.” (p. 195) (Used in today’s post image, I can imagine many of us co-opting these lines as our entertaining mantra from this day forward…)

Swimming in Silence  ~ “…I realized that the really major things were happening all around me, and that more often than not, I had been missing them because my phone had become an extension of my hand, and what it said to people, essentially, is that just being with them isn’t enough.” (p. 200)

“I think about how valuable it is to live the life in front of you, regardless of how tempting it is to press your face to the glass of other people’s lives online, even though doing that is so much safer and so entirely addictive.” (p. 201)

 

Watch:

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Discuss:

Goodness–weren’t these chapters (and conversation) encouraging, so easy to relate to and liberating?  What is your response to what you’ve read and what Shauna, Jessica and Angie are discussing?

Have you found yourself, like Shauna, “… thinking that’s what’s valuable about us is our ability to plan and to control and organize and manage.”  How does a tendency to control the atmosphere diminish Christ when it comes to hospitality in your home?  Or, for you, is order and calm a better indicator of Christ-likeness?

For those of us active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and/or blog writing, are your toes stinging from being stepped on?  Can you see how “too much online time compromises your ability to be present in your own life?”  If you’ve had this conviction, what practical steps can you share with others about how to extract yourself from the tangle of the world wide web?

Share:

We don’t cover everything in these posts or on the videos, so PLEASE always wade in with your comments!  From page one to the end of Part Three, what are some of the most crucial takeaways affecting the way you entertain or invite people into your home?  Are changes coming easily or are you desperate for Jesus to strengthen previously weak or anxious places?

Keep those pictures of new recipes you’re making coming!  We’re looking for them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so if you use the hashtag #inbooks (and @incourage for good measure), it’s easier for us to find them..

Last, don’t be shy to comment on the posts or on the Bloom Facebook page;  it is a HUGE blessing to see the impact of Shauna’s ministry through Bread & Wine and how each conversation with our Sofa Girls builds on the previous one.

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Helpful links and reminders:

• Bread & Wine book club schedule.
  
• Be sure to add our NEW Bloom button on your site!!  Check out the right sidebar for the image and code.
• Sign up for exclusive emails for Bloom (in)courage!  The easiest way to receive free book club updates as soon as they’re available (a separate subscription from regular (in)courage updates).
• Still need a book?  Or pick up a few copies for gifts at DaySpring’s great price: Bread & Wine for just $9.99!
• Join Bloom (in)courage on Facebook!  Be sure to invite your friends, too!
• Tweet your thoughts about our study!  Just be sure to use the #inbooks hashtag so we can find you!
• Author Shauna Niequist’s site
• Jessica’s site, The Mom Creative
• Angie’s site, Bring the Rain

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Friday we have a special Guest Post and Second Helping you are not going to want to miss!  And remember, at the end of our study we’ll have an (in)courage community-wide link up of posts related to Food and Community, or your parting thoughts of our study. Please make plans now to join then!

love & thinkin’ of what recipe to try next (suggestions?),

~ Robin for Bloom

 

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