I love to read so when I was invited to join a book club 10 years ago I was very excited. For the last 10 years I have read some really good books that I probably would not have read if it wasn't on the book club reading list. I read some challenging books that I had to treat like homework to finish reading. I read some books that were so interesting that I couldn't put them down and finished overnight. At the same time there were a few books that were painful to read, and some books that I really couldn't bring myself to finish (very, very few books). For the last 10 years I have read about 100 books with my book club friends. I appreciate their suggestions on what to read; it helps me to read a more wide range of books.
For the last 10 years as a book club we have had a movie night, played games, did cookie exchanges, visited the Ann Frank human rights memorial, had a white elephant gift exchange, and shared many sweet refreshments together. We talked about the books we read, how they applied to us. We talked about what we learned from them and sometimes we disagreed and had some heated arguments (without bad feelings because we are cool like that).
I was thinking about our book club and I wonder if reading books and having a discussion is a secondary purpose of the book club. I noticed that there are a few clubs are out there for people to seek out and join. There are quilting clubs, knitting clubs, and book clubs. And there are few of them that they don't necessarily call it a club, but they get together to run, hike, or do other activities and hobbies they pursue together. I was a part of a play group for a while when I had little kids. Most people seek out others for friendship and a sense of belonging. My husband said that we are adults so we don't just hang out like teenagers; we need a purpose or goal to get together. It might be quilting, knitting, reading, or exercise, and those things will be done when we get together, but he said we are getting together because women need other women and we get together for friendship and support as much as having a literary discussion. I pondered about what he said about the real reason for clubs.
It is true that I consider my book club members my friends. We exchange recipes, we give and receive parenting tips, share news from old friends, and share garden vegetables. We know each others children and grandchildren. We know when someone is having a health problems. We know what worries others have. We don't know how many spoons others have in their drawers, but we have a pretty close relationship. I know I can go to them with my troubles and I will be comforted. I am truly grateful for the wonderful friends I have.
I am very excited about our new reading list for 2017. I look forward to getting together with my book club friends.
Happy reading everyone.
It is the time of the year when you hear a lot of conversations starting with "Are you ready for Christmas?" Your family and friends ask you, cashiers at the stores ask you, and sometimes perfect strangers ask you with a smile. The first time a friend from church asked me this question I answered without hesitation, "Yes." I was thinking, I got the Christmas tree up and decorated, and had a few gifts for our baby daughter under the tree. What more is there to do?
I grew up in Korea and our family never celebrated Christmas. Christmas was a christian holiday and unless you belonged to some church it was just another day. If you did belong to a church you would go to church on Christmas eve and exchange gifts with your friends, sing carols, and maybe play some games. Since that is all I knew about Christmas having a Christmas tree with twinkling lights and gifts under the tree was more than sufficient to say, "Yes" to "are you ready for Christmas?"
But pretty soon I found out there is a lot more to do to be ready for Christmas. First, a lady from our church showed up at our door step with a fruit basket. Since we were young and poor I was really grateful for the gift and I found out that people do these kinds of things during the Christmas season. Then I noticed that there were a lot of home baked goods exchanged between friends and neighbors. I think we eat more home made cookies, cakes, and sweet breads during December than any other month. I mean, you can recycle some of them and no one will notice. Well, if you want to do that, make sure you know which cookies came from which family so you don't accidentally re-gift their own. The family newsletters and Christmas cards from distant families and friends who never had contact with you throughout whole year start to show up in your mail box. Then there is endless gift buying and making; getting a perfect family picture; Christmas parties for work, family, and friends to attend. The list goes on and on. How can you possibly be ready for Christmas when the list of the things to do is about 10 pages long? I learned really quick that when someone asks if I am ready for Christmas, the correct answer is always "No."
Over the years with our children we also participated in gift giving, cookie plate delivering, and caroling. The best part of Christmas is bringing families together. That is why we look forward to Christmas every year. Making sugar cookies together, movie nights with a fire going, hot chocolate after the caroling and reading the Christmas story together. What is there to not love about Christmas. So of course I am ready for Christmas. Not because I have all the perfect gifts for everyone, or have the best looking sugar cookies to share. But because we can be together with our family.
Life can be like hikers ascending a steep and arduous trail. It is a natural and normal thing to occasionally pause on the path to catch our breath, to recalculate our bearings, and to reconsider our pace. Not everyone needs to pause on the path, but there is nothing wrong with doing so when your circumstances require( Elder M. Russell Ballard General conference Oct 2016).
My daughter shared this with me today. She probably thought that I could relate to what he was talking about and she is right. One of my favorite activities is hiking through the wilderness. Whenever I go I gain a deeper appreciation for God's creation and can't help but sing "How Great Thou Art". Well, more like humming between breaths. I always knew that I am not the most fit person and a somewhat slow hiker. I didn't realize how slow I was until this summer when we went hiking with couple of friends. When Mike and I go hiking he always lets me go ahead of him so I can set a pace that is comfortable for me. From the very beginning I could tell that they were much better and faster hikers than I am. I was feeling pretty bad and somewhat embarrassed when they had to wait for me to catch up from time to time.
As long as I remember I always had low blood iron and shortness of breath. I assumed that I had a mild case of asthma, but my doctor told me it is caused by not having enough oxygen in my blood and because of that my heart has to work extra hard. So when I hike up steep mountains my heart works extra extra hard which makes me slow down and take a lot of breaks. So, knowing this, I don't feel as bad about being a slower hiker. I still get to the lake that we set out to go. It might take me longer to get there, but at the end of the day I am there and that is what counts. One benefit of being slow I get to enjoy more just because of so many breaks.
I was thinking about hiking in connection with life. We all start out together, but soon some of us will choose to not continue, some of us will choose to take short cuts, some of us will enjoy the beauty of hiking, while some of us will complain about the weight of packs or the heat of the day. While we are on this journey some of us will notice that others have better equipment, more fashionable clothes, or better things to eat. We will notice that others are faster than us, have more energy than us, or are more cheerful than us.
Did you ever compare your life with others? I did that many times and still do from time to time. We live in a very competitive society and even when we try to not compare ourselves with others sometimes situations arise that make us compare and notice our shortcomings.
When my first born was about five months old someone said to me, "what? she is not crawling yet? so and so is about the same age as your daughter and she is already crawling." Well, guess what she learned to crawl, walk, and run and turned out to be a just perfect child. It is okay to be a late bloomer. Does it really matter how early you lean to crawl, speak, know your colors, finish college, or get married? I didn't start college until I was 36 years old. I married a little later than others. The most important thing is to not give up while trying to reach our lake. What our lake might be is different from person to person.
I appreciate Elder Ballard's words. It is okay to slow down and take a break. Just remember that as long as we are doing better than we have been and continue our journey to our lake everything will work out.
Side note: I am taking a serious amount of iron by doctor's orders and I hope that will help me become a better hiker.
