After months and months of being made fun of for reading so slowly, I have FINALLY finished the book called The Shack (by William Paul Young). In my defense, I have had a little someone called Rachel who has helped delay my reading of this book that I received as a gift last Christmas. My goal (to avoid complete embarrassment) was to finish it by this Christmas...so I think I have succeeded.
I was so deeply touched by the ideas in this book, I wanted to make a post about it on our blog. If you haven't read the book, I hope you'll pick one up. I know it will most probably affect the way you live your life in a huge way. I know my life will not be the same after reading it.
I wanted to put one passage from the book on here that was especially eye opening to me and that changed my perspective on how to prioritize in life.
Mack, talking to God..."Don't you want us to set priorities? You know: God first, then whatever, followed by whatever?"
God's response: "The trouble with living by priorities is that it sees everything as a hierarchy, a pyramid...If you put God at the top, what does that really mean and how much is enough? How much time do you give me before you can go on about the rest of your day, the part that interests you and so much more? You see, Mack, I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you are able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day. I don't want to be among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life - your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities - is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out, back and forth, in an incredible dance of being...and I am the wind"
WOW! How's that for getting our "priorities" in line??? It really changes my outlook. I've always heard that we need to make God our #1 priority in life, followed by family, work, etc....but after reading this, I've come to realize that God doesn't want be a "priority" in our lives, He wants to BE our lives.
I'm attaching a link to the book's website if anyone hasn't heard of it and is interested.
www.theshackbook.com
