Brian Allain

From “World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading” by Jeff Crosby I believe in the power of books to transform lives, to open windows on the world, to fire our imaginations, and to help us be more faithful Christ followers. I believe in the power of books to bridge differences, foster understanding, and offer hope […]

From “We Become What We Normalize: What We Owe Each Other in Worlds That Demand Our Silence” by David Dark Given what we’ve seen and experienced over the last decades, the alliances that have held despite every betrayal of the public good, this grimly candid conclusion concerning the moral debasement most career Republicans would undergo

From “Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation” by Parker J. Palmer Vocation, the way I was seeking it, becomes an act of will, a grim determination that one’s life will go this way or that whether it wants to or not. If the self is sin-ridden and will bow to truth

From “Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life” by Henri Nouwen with Michael J. Christensen and Rebecca J. Laird In Lima, Peru, I discerned God’s preferential concern for the poor and grew in the conviction that I, too, had to choose that option. It was there that I heard the clear call to dedicate my

By Mark Schaefer Read the free article here

From “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck, PhD There’s another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you’re dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you’re secretly worried it’s a pair of tens.  In this

From “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation” by Steven Johnson While the creative walk can produce new serendipitous combinations of existing ideas in our heads, we can also cultivate serendipity in the way that we absorb new ideas from the outside world. Reading remains an unsurpassed vehicle for the transmission of

From “Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner” by Frederick Buechner If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is no such thing as your own business. The world

From “The Discipline of Inspiration: The Mysterious Encounter with God at the Heart of Creativity” by Carey Wallace Modern neuroscientists have begun to map the activity of inspiration, name the implicated chemicals, push pins into the hidden quadrants of our minds. Psychologists have identified some of inspiration’s visible triggers: nature, drugs, grief, discipline, rest, surprise.

From “Wired to Lead: Being the Leader the Church Didn’t Think You Could Be” by Suzanne Nadell If you research the subject of bias, you will see many articles pointing to a 1989 study that focused on women working in a factory. This decades-old study compared women who were machinists to women on the assembly