Max Lucado's, You Can Be Everything God Wants You To Be, is a quick read on a subject nearly everyone wrestles with at some point in their life - what is the point or purpose of my life? I wondered how such an encompassing subject could be covered in the size of a small gift book? Surprisingly well, I discovered.
Lucado has a gift for making the profound and complex easily understandable. He does the same here. In bite-size pieces he covers our uniqueness as persons made in God's image, each with a set of gifts and innate abilities unlike anyone else, offers direction on finding those strengths, and encourages stepping out in faith in the God who made us, to become the person we're made to be. Interspersed with contemporary anecdotes and biblical examples, attractively designed, You Can Be, is typical of Lucado's readable style.
While this is not an indepth treatise on personality styles or career decisions, it is a good introductory work for recent or about-to-be high school graduates. Yes, it would be a "perfect gift for a graduate" as the cover notes. For those needing a bit more than anecdotes and an affirming pat on the back, I'd suggest professional career counseling. Still, a worthwhile read.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
That may not be the perfect way to describe what's happening (or not) in our backyard, since I'm not quite sure which situation to describe as bad and which as ugly. The Good, The Disappointing, and The Mystery would be more accurate.
I'll start with The Disappointing and save The Good for last. Since I promised an update on the upside down tomato planting experiment, I'll start there. Let's just say it's mostly show and little go - or all foliage and no fruit. Oh, make that two small tomatoes which don't show much interest in ripening anytime soon. We've been fairly faithful with watering, not as much with fertilizing. Call it bad or ugly, but all-in-all it's pretty much a disappointment.
The Mystery has to do with some plantings we did about two months ago. We're still trying to adapt to a semi-tropical climate, so have decided it's best to stick with things that are native to the area. Fortunately, I'd done a freelance story on the oldest business in Seminole County, the Crystal Lake Nursery, which only sells plants that are native to central Florida. Among other things, we picked up several decorative peanut plants--a groundcover that produces yellow flowers. Bob weeded around them last weekend and we noticed they were thriving and spreading, as expected. On Tuesday I noticed 3 holes in the bed where the peanut plants had been. They had obviously been dug up and removed by someone. No sign of any animals. To our knowledge, the only people who have been in our backyard, besides us, are the lawn service folks. After playing a few rounds of phone tag with the lawn service supervisor, we connected, and though they claim none of their crew is responsible, they have agreed to replace them. Doesn't solve the mystery, but does fill the holes.
