“Thank you, Daylight Savings Time, […] I enjoy my kids standing at my bedside at 4:30 a.m like creepy, wide-awake Children of the Corn. Nap times are also jacked, so there’s that. With all du respect-ish, A Tired Mom.” p.51

(my very favorite thank you note)

Jen Hatmaker is over the top funny and wise in her latest book: For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards

In For the Love, Jen tackles issues like leggings vs tights, twitter in the 80’s, church problems, people problems, kid problems, thank you notes to anything and everything, and everything else, as you may have guessed. Her solution? More grace, and lots of humor. It’s easy to be overly offended, overly judgmental of others and ourselves, overly anything. It’s harder to let go of our own little notions about how the world should work and instead find the ways Jesus works in our little world.

“We need to quit trying to be awesome and instead be wise.” p.7

I have been looking forward to this book since Jen announced it. It seemed to deal with exactly what I was thinking at the time.  I enjoyed it and inhaled it quickly. Entertaining but then also poignant, it read easily. It wasn’t everything I expected, but what is?

Many of her essays were just plain funny. Can I just point you to the chapter where she recreated her young adulthood as it would have been on twitter if it had existed then? Hilarious.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“We aren’t good gods, but we can be good humans.” p.xv

On parenting:

“Jesus is the only thing that will endure. He trumps parenting techniques, church culture, tight boundaries, and best-laid plans. Jesus can lead our children long after they’ve left our homes. He will lead them when our work is through.” p.94

On the gospel:

“We tend to formalize the mysterious, opting for a more manageable gospel than the wild, unpredictable one we have. We’d like one with clearer edges and better boundaries, because who can fathom a Savior born in a barn who washed the feet of His followers before dying for people who hate Him?” p.194

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For just a taste of For the Love and Jen Hatmaker here are a few of my favorite blog posts from her. Two of these are also in the book. Enjoy!

In the book: Run Your Race and Hope for Spicy Families

Also: The Thing About Being More Awesome and On Becoming a Writer,

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Have you read this book? What did you think? How are you inviting more grace into your life?

((I received a free copy of this book from booklookbloggers.com in exchange for my honest opinion.))

 

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