Daily Archives: December 3, 2009
My Thoughts on Three Books (and a giveaway)
God Gave Us Love clearly reiterates one theme: all love comes from God. There are different kinds of love — one between mamas and daddies, another between friends and siblings. When we share love with family, friends and neighbors, we share God’s love.
God Gave Us Christmas (pictured below) is a perfect story for the season. In it Little Cub wonders if Santa invented Christmas. Her mama assures her that God gave us Christmas, and He’s way more important than Santa or presents or anything else. The two then travel in search of God and find Him and the story of Christmas all around in creation.
Treasured: Knowing God by the Things He Keeps (pictured below) was written by Leigh McLeroy. A small, nonfiction volume, this book encourages readers to consider tangible reminders of God’s active presence and guides us toward discovering evidence of Him in our own lives. One endorsement accurately explains it mixes “sweet memories, profound observations, sharp insights and exquisite words into a delicious narrative.” It includes a guide for individual study and group discussion.
My personal thoughts:
Honestly, God Gave Us Love didn’t live up to my expectations. I’ve read a number of books by Ms. Bergren and have always been delighted. This one fell short for me. The explanations seemed vague and incomplete. The illustrations were wonderful, as always, but the text seemed rushed. Click here to see a full review at my other site: Christian Children’s Book Review.
In contrast, God Gave Us Christmas far exceeded my expectations!
We don’t “do” Santa in our house. We talk about Saint Nicholas, but only as a historical figure that some families like to pretend is still alive and part of the holidays. We emphasize that Santa is pretend.
This book talks about Santa neither as real nor pretend — which satisfies our family without offending others who do teach a belief in Santa. The best part, though is this: the book consistently redirects focus to what is truly important: God. In it Mama doesn’t skirt Little Bear’s questions, but she does point her toward the true meaning of Christmas, the true existence of God, and the glory of God in nature. She shares the Nativity story as well as solid theological truths about Jesus. She affirms that “Santa Claus reminds us about many good things like generosity and care. But it is God and Jesus that we celebrate most … We always want to thank God for giving us Christmas.” (a direct quote from the book) I love this book!
Follow this link to read a review posted by another mom at CCBR.
And Treasured … Well, I had originally planned to give this away to one of you, but I’ve chosen to be selfish and keep it for myself. 
It’s a FANTASTIC book!
If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know I delight in finding God in the dailies, in the little details of seemingly mundane lives. That’s what this book is about, but it takes it one step further. It finds God in the mundane details of biblical lives first, then applies those lessons to our lives today. Noah, Hagar, Rahab, Ezekiel, Abraham and Isaac — These lives have grand details and seemingly irrelevant ones. Leigh McLeroy focuses on the mundane details (we too often overlook) to reveal vast truths about our God. It’s — well, it’s so good I HAVE to give one away!
In the comments section of this post tell me about your favorite “little” detail of Scripture. I’ll draw a name randomly and announce a winner on Sunday.
ALSO: CCBR is hosting a giveaway for the other two books! Visit that post to enter. The deadline is noon today PST/ 3PM EST.
Disclosure Note: These books were provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
