This week’s reading list focuses on the important of taking breaks during your work load/work week, and shares a bunch of inspiring Christian-related pieces, poetry, and content you need to read right now.

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1. This beautiful, contest-winning essay by Joel Gardner, “After Music.”

I love the visual imagery, especially of the woman and the complexities of attraction and longing.

2. This winning poignant essay, “In the Absence of Rain” by Catherine Pond.

“Rain has no parameter, no geometry, no shape, no meter, no rhyme. It has no borders. It spills over into everything. Perhaps you do not like the rain; you are one who likes limits. Or maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe rain is all borders, and you are desperate to be hemmed in. You don’t want an endless horizon. You want the dark body of the storm to bear down on you. You want to be left alone inside your private weather to write.”

3. This interesting article on things we mistake as self-love that are actually self-hate.

Among them is “defining our futures or success by loose, ambiguous terms like ‘finding happiness’ instead of a real goal.” An much-needed change in perspective for me.

4. This strong and painful poem about abuse, “Ghazal with My Hands Folded, Waiting”.

“This captures the hurt. In the mirror, my face turns
into my father’s & remains there, stuck in the glass. Like flies,
our memory gasps awake in the middle of the night & turns…”

5. This simple, yet powerful article on Christian culture and gay/bisexual/lesbian culture.

“The message of the gospel is not condemnation. The message of the gospel is love. Jesus is love.”

6. This powerful piece on suicide and how we are all so connected in our shared humanness.

“We are all people, all of us — the rich and the poor and the vast in-between; the parents and the grandparents and the people who choose not to have kids and the people who wish they could but can’t; the wives and the husbands and the single people and the people deeply in love who prefer not to put a label on it; the queer people and the straight people and the people who are figuring it out. None of these roles and labels confers or removes happiness or sadness.”

7. This piece about taking breaks during your work day/week to help with productivity.

Because let’s face it, we’re all way too busy.

8. This sweet little reminder that God is in the details.

“Instead, I found myself tapping into my spirit at random moments — when I was particularly aware of the brilliance of a day or a written thought or a song or a piece of art; or even enjoying a sweet ordinary moment, a laugh or a snuggle. These little details of life are sewn into the drab day-to-day tapestry to add pops of color and sparkle, lifting me from boredom; and even, at times, despair.”

I just love this. So simple, so powerful. And so true.

9. This poem on America and it’s beauty, despite everything.

“Lost land,
this is a song for the scars on your back,
for your blistered feet and beautiful
watch, it is for your windmills, your
magic machines, for your fists.”

Featured Image Credit: rawpixel