As inviting as a picnic

Blog post ideas have been collecting in the moleskine pages of my head. The ideas fill those pages with myriad short blurbs of pieces; I feel they belong more in a Gertrude Stein poem than in distinct blog posts.

fourth. books. libraries. the beloved. potato salad. tossing a frisbee. cartwheels. fresh figs. free butter almond thins. the post office. articles. friendship. wanting to be a writer. the Word. life. cursive. cursory. slowly.

I guess the thoughts will come, fleshed out, in time - hopefully not pummeling down on you. For now, I'll pick one thing to write about.

The other day a pastor friend came by my office for some help with MS Word. He saw the Serenity Prayer posted up on my wall, which reminded him of the book he's been reading, which he proceeded to pull out, which discusses Reinhold Niebuhr's life, as well as Bonhoeffer's and Lewis'. We started talking about other books, and then he asked me this one question which made me so happy. (Do you ever have that experience when someone asks you a question you're dying to answer? They teach us that in Stephen Ministry. People will tell you what they want you to ask. You just need to be paying attention.) It must have been in my eyes. Anyway, he asked me this:

What books (other than the Bible) have been most formative in your spiritual life?

(To be honest, it's almost as much the way in which he asked the question as the question itself. I love the word "formative." Maybe, Maria, I shall stick it in my drawer alongside the words "tender" and "elegant.")

The question was tossed out with such grace and ease, as inviting as a picnic blanket freshly spread out onto the grass, waiting for me to plop down, sigh, and soak up the sun. Ahh...

And so as I sit here on this picnic blanket, nibbling on morsels of cheese and nubs of bread, enjoying the warm sun and your lovely company, I tell you this: my answer to that question has been, for a while, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. I would not be who I am had it not been for reading that book; it encouraged me to explore spiritual disciplines that have, for me, opened up a world of knowing God. I love Foster's clear reminders that the disciplines are not an end in themselves; rather, they are "a means of receiving his grace," in that they "allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us." Recently, Courage and Calling has won my appreciation. And thinking back, I've valued Piper's Desiring God, Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz, and a small tale of an allegory called Hinds' Feet on High Places.

What about you? What books have been most formative for you?