Meagan, Author at Meagan View

Turning Pages, a look at my summer reading log

Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.

John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

This post does not contain affiliate links. The books I’ve read, the words others have birthed – I will not make a commission on, rather pass along their worth.

Visit any person’s bookshelf and you’ll be given access to their world. The words people read tell a lot about the person, their interests, hobbies, soul searches, and dream endeavors. As the summer is coming to a close, here is a list of books that held my attention over the last few months along with a few of my highlights that enticed me to keep turning pages.

Humble Roots, by Hannah Anderson

“Jesus’ humanity restores our humanity. Jesus’ humility restores our humility. The temptation, of course, is to bypass Jesus altogether. The temptation is to read these verses as a model for our behavior and then attempt to live them out in our own strength. We believe Jesus to be the perfect humanity and even see His humility as the ideal. But then we strive for the ideal apart from Him. We insert ourselves in the narrative as if we were Jesus. We talk about being “Jesus’ hands and feet” and then proceed to act independently of Him. We ask, “What would Jesus do?” but really mean, “What would Jesus do if He were me?” We forget that without the Breath of Life in us, we are nothing but dirt.” – Chapter 4, In the Likeness of Men

“Within the church, the message can be just as mixed. Women are simultaneously celebrated for being “smoking hot wives” at the same time they are told that their bodies are a source of temptation, a ticking time bomb that, for love of their brother, they must defuse . . . Men also receive confusing messages about sexuality: On the one hand, a natural appreciation for beauty becomes equated with lust, resulting in shame for even noticing the attractiveness of a woman (or another man). But when age causes a man’s sex drive to wane, the same shame tells him to seek out small blue pills to recover his manhood. The result is widespread and profound rejection of the goodness of our physical bodies.” – Chapter 5, Unashamed

Humble Roots, how humility grounds and nourishes your soul – is just that. Its simplicity touches deep places that need correcting in a gentle way.

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

This is not a “hate on your parents” book. Behaviors and words we’ve grown up with shape us greatly … until one day … we begin to see that guilt, shame, neglect, sarcasm, defensiveness, etc., didn’t make for good relationship. I didn’t highlight in this book, rather read pages with a perspective of understanding emotional responses (mine and others). If you’ve ever wondered why some relationships are emotionally hard, or … why you don’t ask for help? why you put yourself last with your needs? why you consider others before considering yourself (and if you do, you feel guilty for it)? … why you apologize for your emotions? why you don’t speak up and avoid confrontation?

Like I stated above, this isn’t a “blame your parents” for all your problems, however it is a good read to see what is healthy and what is not – and, stop defeating inner chatter that tells you you’re not good enough, doing enough, or are responsible for fixing other people’s emotional needs.

As summer is coming to a close this book is another gentle read by Hannah Anderson that will carry me into the upcoming months. Using natures rhythms to deeper insight into scripture, we’re ushed unto greater understanding and revelatory contentment.

“So too you must awaken each day. You must walk through the dew. You must gather what you have not sown. You must return to Him morning by morning for your daily provision. Because make no mistake, it will be provided. – Summer

“And suddenly we realize that we too are creatures of habit and memory. We realize how certain paths have been pressed down to us and how we lead our young down those same paths” . . . “And so we talk about them when we’re bedding down and when we’re rising up and when we’re walking along the read. So that in leading them down the same path over and over again, together we find our way. We find our way to the source and fulfillment of all that our hearts long for. We find our way to Him.” – Fall

Did you turn pages over the summer? I’d love to hear what you read or are reading! ♥

Real talk for the forty and fifty year old women

It’s not me, it’s the perimenopause – if you’re at the age of uttering those words, let’s talk. As if life wasn’t constantly throwing enough emotional and physical challenges, let’s throw in some inactive and overactive hormones just to shake off the last bit of a woman’s sanity! I’ve recently read a great book on the subject, however one thing the book couldn’t give was community.

For these next brief moments, let’s relate to each other instead of trying to fix or compare. Maybe you need to hear there is a woman out there going through the same hormonal shift you are? Maybe hearing a few of my struggles will help ease you through yours? Yes, the community of perimenopausal women are a shifting group … a sweaty, mood swinging, and achy bunch of women who are balancing (along with children, work, and home) a sputtering and glitchen endocrine system.

Let’s talk …

If I sit, I sleep

Even my richest coffee bean isn’t enough to fuel my motives anymore. Late afternoon naps have become a thing now – laying in bed with a 90’s sitcom, yes please. For the woman whose spent decades raising, chasing, and releasing children, or getting up at the crack of dawn to earn the paycheck – let me tell you, you’ve earned the right to nap. Please do.

Give yourself grace to try different medicine

I’ve always had hesitation with pharmaceuticals, in my opinion I’d rather fix the problem than get a band-aid solution. After a decade of chronic migraines, perimenopause has given way to more migraines (ugh). It was time to try the medical helps I would never have considered before. If you’re struggling with pain, do yourself good … pray, research, then release your options to God and move forward with the helps. If you’re like me and want to try natural routes first, I highly recommend this book, Hormone Repair Manual: Every Woman’s Guide to Healthy Hormones After 40

Diet dilemmas – Eat this – Never eat that – Eat when you’re hungry, but never before bed

We’ve been conditioned to believe our body must look a certain way to be healthy or beautiful and in order to get the perfect body, we must eat the perfect way … my metabolism isn’t getting the cultural memo – Hey metabolism, wake up! Listening to our body and giving it food rich with minerals, vitamins and proteins is the best thing we can do. If that means I’m eating a chicken thigh with guac and salsa at 10 pm – so be it! If that means I roll through a drive through once a week for a cinnamon roll – damn it, we’re allowed to enjoy a sweet treat! Enjoy healthful food – and by all means have a carb and nourish the body that has been faithful to you.

Just give us comfort in the form of stretchy-soft material.

Remember The Golden Girls? Most nights they sat around a kitchen table eating cheesecake while their tunic style night gowns covered the belly rolls. Oh the comfort! Today we call it Boho … more fabric, less sinch and I’m all for it! And if you think this fashion sense isn’t sexy – think again.

And while we’re talking sexy …

Feeling desirable is a state of mind – not a response from another. A woman who carries herself with confidence and wisdom, a woman who has overcome challenges in life and remains humble, forgiving, teachable, and tender … she is attractive at a soul level. Our jeans may be getting snug but may our heart be ever expanding – amen.

Friend, I hope you know what a treasure you are. I hope you know that shifting hormones do not define you or your state of mind right now. I hope you compare yourself less to the world’s standard and step confidently into the grace of God … who knows our heart and is blessing us with age. Let’s just take a moment to acknowledge where we are, have a laugh, and keep moving forward.

ps. This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for keeping me writing!

You May Need Creative Community If . . .

Did you know creative types are 8 to 10 times more likely to suffer from mood disorders – depression, anxiety, or bipolar? There is also substantial research showing that situational factors influence creativity – meaning, your pain or your pleasure will ultimately affect your creative expression. The Dark Side to Creativity

There is something else that affects creative expression, community. For the creative who tends to lean into introversion, community can feel like a lonely and draining “situational factor.” However, sometimes your feet land next to another thinker/creator/maker … and the conversation feels life giving and purposeful.

I found myself in one such conversation – and I realized, after leaving the table feeling inspired and motivated, I need more creative community. How about you? I’ve listed a few of my indicators below:

You may need Creative Community if . . .

You react to the status quo with a challenge.

Questions like “What if…?” and “Why not…?” allow us to redefine possibility. By challenging the everyday normal, we seek to create something out of the predicable, mundane, or life-less areas. And at times, the questioning reveals what ourselves or another is holding onto tightly. Limitations feel irritating when we can see possibility.

You seek authentic over popular.

Creatives seek to stay true to themselves; valuing their personal heart work, they connect deeply with those who expose the truth of their struggles. In a room full of chatty-Kathy’s, you may feel as though you have nothing to contribute because the depth you desire to give feels too heavy to entrust to those around you.

You understand the wrestle of creative work –

– Inspired, motivated, disappointed, despair, potential, vulnerable, repeat – Somewhere in the wrestling work of cultivation and creation, you wish someone would remind you of how good you are, how far you’ve come, and how your work will never match the beauty and strength of your soul. You desire to see yourself in the work, and hope you’ve given room for another to find themselves as well.

Sometimes, you struggle to believe in yourself.

Even the seemingly self-confident creative person often wonders, Am I good enough? We constantly often compare our work with others and fail to see our own brilliance, which may be obvious to everyone else. There is a lingering fear that you don’t have what it takes – and you could use some encouragement, not flattery, simply a perspective from another creative.

You live on the edge of happiness and depression.

Because we feel deeply, highly creative people can often quickly shift from happiness to sadness or even depression. Our sensitive heart, while the source of our creative spark, is also the source of our suffering. We desire joy and lightheartedness – however, without an outlet to let the noise out, it becomes trapped inside us.

What if the reason we creative types feel depressed or heavy burdened is simply because we ache for community; a community of thinkers/creators/makers? Let’s create what we long for! I’d like to challenge you to examine your friend/family circle – are you engaging with creative people? If so, I’d love to hear (seriously, I would) how you incorporate and cultivate creative relationships into your life?

As I endeavor to create something I’d like to be a part of – I’ll be sharing what I learned, failures and successes. It’s a good idea to subscribe to my blog now as to not miss anything! ♥

In the meantime, here is a fun quiz to take regarding your creative type – https://mycreativetype.com/ I’m a Dreamer, what’s yours?

Blessings,

When the light of the word doesn’t feel bright enough…

If the word is a lamp unto our feet – How about some wise and directing words about when your child leaves home, or when parents move in? … David, I could use a Psalm about God standing with you as you stood alone in your grown child’s bedroom room, or a sonnet about finding purpose when life feels over … Solomon, couldn’t you have written wise words for the parent who struggles daily with rejection from their own child?

There are days when the word doesn’t feel bright enough to light the path I’m on. Let me confess further, there are days when Amazon drops books at my door that I hope will give the light I need; words from a stranger that I’m hoping will flint-strike against the word, spark and ignite a flame of truth to light the darkness and give direction.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3: 16,17

What is a person to do when their path feels dark and the light of the word is dim? When they don’t know what to do or which direction to take … or, they do know, and knowing doesn’t make it any less difficult?

This is where I’d love to write a bold type answer in one simple and dramatic sentence, I can’t. However, I can encourage you with the only thing I’ve known to do … keep going … keep walking … keep showing up … keep doing the next right thing.

God’s companionship is not controlled by our right or wrong choices – it is constant even when we try to hide, or choose to disobey – His loyalty to us remains even when life is unfair and cruel.

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. Psalm 139:9-12

A dark path reflects a deep need. When a season of parenthood felt like a path of thorns, Jesus guided me through a deep need of wisdom and peace. This path of chronic pain I walk, Jesus faithfully meets my deep need for His closeness and guidance. His light didn’t come without cost – it cost me a walk through my fears, insecurities, doubts … darkness I wanted to avoid because recognizing where I needed light was examining the darkness of places I’d not received love.

If you’re struggling to find light in the word … I have too. I’ve looked to the word to solve a problem rather than bring light to the darkness of my soul. Difficult paths bring out the Jesus in us! Dark paths reveal our deep need for His light to be shown. To see His light, we must gaze into our darkness knowing He is there guiding us through … because He is. Be encouraged, friend, Jesus is with you in darkness and in light – He is constantly directing and guiding you even when you feel alone. Just keep going, take the next right step, and move toward the light of His companionship.

Cheering for you!

These are the days of permission

These are the days of … , if you didn’t instantly hear the chorus to These Are The Days of Elijah, you clearly didn’t spiritually grow up in a Pentecostal church (over two decades ago). However, today, Emily P. Freeman and her journal guide to The Next Right Thing, has brought some fresh perspective to that old tune … today, these are the days of quiet, of boredom, of reading books, and accepting the ever-present cold to capture the ever-escaping sun.

In some ways, these days, feel empty and uninspiring – until the empty is noticed and given permission to be.

These are the days of simmering soup and wishing I’d planted garlic.

These are the days of going to bed early and sleeping late.

These are the days of too much T.V. and not enough trail walking.

If you’ve struggled to accept the day’s you’re in, let this help – what you name, you give permission to live and die. Isn’t that how seasons work? They’re birthed in all their anticipated newness from the first buds peeking through the warmed soil, to the fallen leaves that crunch from dryness beneath our feet. We pour the hot chocolate knowing we’ll stir lemonade again. With the same permission we give to the season’s, let us give the same permission to the day’s and season’s of our life.

These are the days of daughterly lasts and growing out greys.

These are the days of Duo calls and being grateful to see their faces.

Consider this your invitation to name your days with permission to let them live in whatever capacity, good or bad, they may feel like to you. Because of this … days don’t last forever, seasons come and go, but the goodness of Lord shall remain – in every day, and in every tomorrow.

These are the days of being taught by the Lord, and resting in His peace. (Isaiah 54:13)

Whatever your days look like, or feel like – you can be certain God is working in them. Who are we to try and persuade our days away from the work God is doing in them? He who began a good work is faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6).

These are the days of … allowing and accepting the days at hand.

Blessings,