April 2019 Reads

It's a beautiful day toward the end of May, so I know I'm a little late writing a post for last month. I have a new pet fern which got some rain last night; I'm definitely gardening more this year! (The hydrangea in the side flowerbed should finally bloom soon, which is pretty satisfying after three years of coaxing it along.) Between work and travels and the craziness of life, I finished three books for April. I'm watching much less TV, so the title of the first book seems fitting:

1. Life After Television, by George Gilder. I heard of Gilder with the publication of his newest book, Life After Google (which I have yet to read). In 1990, he discussed the obsoletion of limited TV, the rise of the computer, and the future of HDTV and fiber optics. He predicted the development of concepts similar to YouTube and Netflix. It’s not my usual reading material, but I liked it.
2. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo. I enjoyed this neat little book, and Kondo’s new Netflix show compliments it well. I’ve heard a few people criticize the KonMari methods, believing she insists on clients keeping only 30 books, but that’s an exaggeration. She personally chooses to keep a small amount of books but she says if you’re an avid reader, by all means keep a large library; she just suggests keeping only books you love and use! If you love shoes, keep your shoes...but enjoy them. One of her clients started out with about 160 pairs of shoes (most of which he didn’t wear), and took it down to about 45 pairs. Another had boxes and boxes of baseball cards overflowing a bedroom and chose to keep only a select few which really sparked joy. Now, in all honesty, I think decluttering deserves its own blogpost. Maybe a dozen posts (haha). But trying to implement this method has been helpful; it’s a fairly low-stress but thorough approach to not only improving your home, but improving your whole outlook on life.
3. The Brokenhearted Evangelist, by Jeremy Walker. Our Church recently had a study based on this book, and it was pretty convicting. Do we really care about those who don’t know Jesus Christ? Do we prove this by speaking the truth in love? Walker writes many helpful things about how a believer can be a faithful witness for the Lord, which I think can be summarized here: “Show us a truehearted servant of God prayerfully pouring out his energies in the declaration of God’s truth, making Christ known in all the Bible, and we will show you a man whom we are confident the Spirit might use at any moment to usher in a soul into Christ’s kingdom.” He goes on to say that although we cannot foresee how and when God may use our evangelistic efforts, God does promise that His Word will not return without fruit.

I know it's almost time to write a May post. I promise some exciting titles are coming up! Meanwhile, I need to make some coffee and enjoy a few moments on my patio...before the rest of the day catches up with me.

(Photo from Medium Corporation)