Seth Lewis's Blog, page 9

How I’m Voting In The Constitutional Referendum (And Why)

On the 8th of March, the citizens of Ireland will be asked to make two changes to our constitution by referendum. Because of the importance of these decisions, I’d like to use this week’s post to discuss them. The first change would be to the constitutional definition of the family, adding “other durable relationships” alongside marriage in Article 41. The Article with the proposed change would read this way (updated wording in bold):

Article 41.1.1° “The State recognises the Family, whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships, as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.”

As we consider this decision, we must recognise that adjusting our constitution is a serious matter. This is far more than a symbolic gesture—our constitution is the foundation of our entire legal system. Any changes to it will have far-reaching implications for how our society functions and how our laws are interpreted. With that in mind, I am happy that the proposed change still recognises that the family is the “fundamental unit group of society”. I believe that this order is God’s provision for humanity, along with the gift of marriage (we see this in Genesis 1 & 2, although we must also recognise that marriage and family have been greatly harmed by the effects of the fall in Genesis 3).

The question before us is this: how will including “other durable relationships” alongside marriage in our constitution impact our laws and society? What will the practical effects be of granting such relationships “inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law”? The answer to these questions is this: no one knows the answer to these questions. And the reason no one knows is because no one has defined the term “durable relationship”.

The Irish government has told us that they will leave the definition of this phrase open and let the courts decide what it means. In all of this, only one thing is certain: the courts will be busy, making decisions. They will have to decide what a “durable relationship” means in family law, tax law, succession law, and immigration law, to name a few. How “durable” does a relationship need to be to qualify for “inalienable and imprescriptible rights” that are “superior to all positive law”? Does a boyfriend or girlfriend count? How long would a couple have to be dating, to count as “durable”? Could a very close friendship qualify? A group of friends? What if someone is married but also has a girlfriend as well, do they then have two simultaneous “durable” relationships? What would this mean for the application of family law, or for immigration applications for family reunification? How would we know for sure when a “durable” relationship has begun, or when it has ended for the purposes of tax or inheritance law?

To redefine the family in our constitution without any clarity on what the new definition even means is like saying, “let’s go down this road” without anyone knowing where the road will lead us. That sort of trip might be fun for a holiday adventure, but it’s no way to order a society. It is a recipe for chaos. If the goal of the government is to make sure that single-parent families and unmarried couples receive more supports, then they should make laws that provide those supports. There is nothing keeping them from doing so. A purposefully vague amendment that intentionally opens up a host of unknown legal implications is not a solution.

I’m voting no to this change.

The other constitutional change that we are being asked to make is to remove two clauses that specifically recognise the role of mothers in the home, and replace them with a new clause generally recognising the care that family members give to each other. The Articles that would be removed are:

Article 41.2.1° “In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.”

And

Article 41.2.2° “The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”

These would be replaced by the following new Article 42B, which reads:

“The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to Society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provision.”

The current Articles have been criticised as implying that a woman’s place is in the home, but it ought to be noted that they do not actually say this, and that they have never been interpreted this way in legal precedent to date. All the Articles really say is that the role women play in the home is vital for society (can anyone deny it?), and that the state has an obligation to seek to ensure that women are not forced into the workforce out of “economic necessity”. In our age of skyrocketing house prices and inflation, this is an important provision. What would our country look like if the government actually took seriously this constitutional obligation to make raising a family in Ireland possible on one income, rather than two? That’s really what these Articles are about. They do not obligate any woman to stay home with her children and out of the workforce. They only obligate the government to seek to prevent her being forced into the workforce against her wishes.

If this change is approved, the government’s obligation to families will change from a specifically economic one to a non-specific obligation to “strive to support”. What would this support look like? What family members would qualify for it, and what kinds of care? Why is it limited to family members, not other care situations? If the government wants to equal the gender balance of these Articles and recognise the vital role of fathers or other carers along with mothers, I’m all for it. Let them propose constitutional changes or new laws that do so, without removing this important economic provision for families in the process. In the meantime, I’m a lot more interested in them taking these Articles seriously as they stand and working to build a society where living as a one-income family is a realistic option for every family in Ireland, whether they chose to take it or not.

I’m voting no to this change as well.

I want to finish by saying how thankful I am to live in Ireland. I am thankful for the freedoms we enjoy here, and the privilege of living in a democratic society where every citizen can have a say in important decisions like these. I have found Irish society to be deeply caring and supportive to families and individuals, and I believe that our constitution already reflects this.

Pause (a poem)

Another day, another week, another year. Sometimes it can feel like time blurs together, like life is stuck on repeat and everything keeps happening all over again and the only difference is that I’m more tired this time around but I have to keep going anyway because otherwise things will get ahead of me. This is one of the reasons it’s so important for me to stop everything, every morning, long enough to reconnect with God and remember what life is, where it comes from, and why it matters so much. That’s what this poem is about.

Pause

Once again I lay me down and
Once again I rise
Once again caffeine reminds
My head that I’m alive

And

Every day feels much the same and
Every day begins
Every day goes on and on
And every day, it ends

And

If I pause, is that allowed? And
If I pause I might lose ground and
If I pause

I might remember

Why

On The Origin Of Humanity’s Superpower

I originally wrote this post in 2018, and I’m reposting it today because it’s Valentine’s Day—a very good day to think about where our shared superpower comes from.

“You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs
But I look around me and I see it isn’t so
Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs
And what’s wrong with that?”

So sang Sir Paul McCartney, and all it takes is a few minutes listening to the radio to prove him right. Same goes for silly rom-coms and royal weddings. For some reason, we humans get a bit silly over love. No matter how scientific our philosophy or cold and calculated our theory of existence, there’s nearly always someone in our lives who holds a mysterious power to break through our rigid shell into the gooey centre of our humanity where love is the unrivalled (and often unruly) ruler.

We love. It’s what humans do. The only real difference between us is where we each choose to direct our love: Some turn it in on themselves, while others turn it outward and upward. Still, the common thread of all humanity is this incredible ability to passionately, forcefully love with every fibre of our being.

It’s our superpower.

Our history, literature, and films have documented its use in detail, even in fantastic hypotheticals. And yet – where is the origin story? What explanation can we give for this fire burning in our blood? If it wasn’t a spider bite or an experiment gone wrong, how did it become so intensely strong that it can drive the most rational creatures on the planet to break our bodies and give our lives for the sake of a beloved face or the colours on a flag?

If we listen to certain scientists, they calmly explain that what we call “love” is actually the inevitable result of meaningless mutations, chemical reactions, and survival instinct. This would make sense if all we ever loved was ourselves, but it makes utter nonsense of our monuments to strong heroes who sacrificed their lives protecting the weak. Survival of the fittest? This origin story doesn’t make sense of us. Our superpower is not a cold-hearted advantage over others. We have a word for people who use power that way: villain. Heroes are always born of love: For nations, for cities, for friends, for family, for strangers – for others.

In all the world, there is only one origin story that does justice to the strength and centrality of our love: It is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine has certainly been the cause of head-scratching through the centuries as we try to understand how God can be one God in substance and nature, and yet exist in never-ending relationship between the three distinct persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But this mystery of the Trinity solves the mystery of us: It shows us that love is central to humanity because love is central to the nature of God. God created us as relational beings because God is a relational being. Why does our passion burn so hot? Because it was kindled in the furnace of God himself. No other concept of God or theory of human beginnings can tell us why it is that we long so desperately to know and be known, to love and be loved. But if the God who made us in his image is himself relational by nature, then he could even be a God whose love is strong enough to cause him to give his life for the sake of humans who rebelled against him. If you want to know why the symbol of the cross is the most common monument on the planet, look no further than this: it is the place where the origin of love became love’s ultimate expression.

A Collection Of Incredible Creations

In researching and writing for my next book, “Everything Speaks: Learning the Language of Creation”, I have been constantly amazed at the detail and design of the world God put us in. Even now, there are songbirds outside my window flying effortlessly on perfectly crafted wings. There are plants that began as tiny seeds, and they’re out there converting sunlight into energy and releasing oxygen for me to breathe. There are worms aerating the soil and clouds watering the forests and galaxies are spinning and molecules are bonding and King David was right when he wrote that:

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.” – Psalm 19:1-4

In the book, I want to explore how we can understand what God is saying to us through the things he has made. But for now, I’d like to share a few aspects of creation that I have found especially fascinating as I’ve researched. First of all, trees. Did you know that they can talk to each other? Research has shown that that there is much more going on in the forest than meets the eye:

And while the trees quietly communicate under our feet, the birds that inhabit them are a bit noisier. Like the lyre bird, which can imitate any sound it hears:

Another bird that surprised me recently is the tailor bird, who uses natural fibres and spider silk to sew a home in the leaves:

Have you ever wondered how geckos can climb basically anything and walk upside-down? The secret is in tiny hairs on their feet that can create atomic bonds with the surfaces they travel on:

Meanwhile, hidden away under the waves, there is a kind of jellyfish that doesn’t die of old age. It is known as the “immortal jellyfish” because it can choose to return to its juvenile state and start its lifecycle all over again as many times as it likes. How would you like to go back to being a baby?

There is still so much to discover. Many aspects of nature are still mysterious to us, like the yearly migration of monarch butterflies across North America. How do millions of tiny butterflies navigate flawlessly across thousands of miles of terrain they have never seen before to always end up on the exact same acres of mountains that their ancestors left the year before? This video is a clip from a fascinating full-length documentary on butterflies from Illustrations Media, called “Metamorphosis: The Beauty & Design of Butterflies.” I highly recommend it.

These are only a few examples of the many wonders God has made. Feel free to put more examples in the comments section, I’d love to see them!

“How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.” – Psalm 104:24

Inheriting Righteousness

Have you ever thought about how much you’ve inherited from others? Your life is inherited, to begin with. Your way of life is inherited as well, from those who have gone before you and built up the world to be what it is—who developed the technologies, coordinated the supply chains, and built the infrastructure that shapes our daily lives. Most of the knowledge we learn in school was passed down from the generations before us, as are many of our recipes, our holiday traditions, and our sports. And of course there are bad things, too, like predisposition to diseases, cultural blind spots, broken systems, and so much more. For good or bad, our lives are profoundly shaped by all that we have inherited. Profoundly, but not completely.

We still make our own choices. We still decide what to do with the inheritances we have received, whether we value them or cast them aside, whether we leverage them for good or waste them or use them for evil. No matter what we have inherited, the choice to do right or wrong is still our own. And this is what makes Hebrews 11:7 so surprising. It talks about Noah trusting God and building the ark to save his family, and then it goes on to say that “By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” Hold on a second—I know we are heirs of many things in many ways, but an heir of righteousness? The dictionary defines righteousness as “the quality of being morally right or justifiable.” How can moral rightness be inherited?

That’s an important question, because the Bible is clear that unless we have perfect righteousness, we’ll never be able to stand before a perfect God. And who has perfect righteousness? The answer is not encouraging:

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, 
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
 and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” – Isaiah 64:6

Like sheep on a hillside look white against the green grass, we might be able to view ourselves as righteous when we compare our choices to the world around us. But if you look at those same sheep in the fresh snow, you’ll see their imperfections contrasted against a deeper kind of purity. When we look at our righteousness compared to God’s perfection, it simply does not come close. Who then can be saved?

The good news of the gospel is that God has provided a way to share his perfect righteousness with us. Jesus came to earth and lived the perfect human life that none of us could attain. Then he took our sin to the cross and paid for it once and for all and now he offers us his own perfect righteousness in its place. There it is: an inheritance of righteousness. An inheritance “that is in keeping with faith” because we must trust him to provide what we cannot. Like Noah believed God’s words of salvation and acted on them, we must also believe and put our lives in God’s hands. We still have a choice. And if we choose to trust God, we will inherit his righteousness.

The righteousness that God provides to those who trust him is the greatest inheritance we could ever receive—better than money, fame, power, position, or any inheritance ever given on earth. By it we are restored to peace with our Creator, to life, to joy, to hope and security and love and a home that lasts forever. But the perfect righteousness that opens the gates of Heaven is not something we could ever achieve for ourselves. It is an inheritance, received by faith.

The Challenge Of Choosing Between Bitter And Better

There may only be one letter between bitter and better, but like street signs on the same post, the two words point us in opposite directions. And these signposts are planted firmly, with the same two arrows, at every difficult junction we face on the road of life. No matter how well we may have chosen in the past, or how poorly, the same choice always presents itself all over again: will we let the difficulties of life make us better? Or bitter?

It’s obvious, isn’t it? One choice is literally named “better.” So that’s clearly the choice we’ll always make. Right? Why would we willingly choose to travel a bitter road when a better option is always available to us? The answer is this: we don’t always believe the signposts. 

Sometimes our lives become so difficult or our relationships get so messy that we think bitter is the better road. We become convinced that we are entitled to bitterness, that our sufferings have earned us a right to travel where others dare not tread. We may even feel that we must travel that road—that any other choice besides bitterness would minimise the magnitude of our sufferings or passively justify the injustice of our circumstances. In a position like this, the road marked “better” that moves us away from bitterness and towards forgiveness, contentment, perseverance, and hope can begin to look like a cruel joke, like an impossible fairy-tale path up a mountain of make-believe happiness. Better to face reality squarely and let it lead us down, down, always down into the bitter abyss. The mountain is a myth, anyway. Or is it? 

The hard part about picking between bitter and better is not the words. The hard part is believing them. The hard part is looking at a landscape of pain that sometimes stretches out as far as our eyes can see and still believing that this path that says “better” can actually, really, truly bring us to a better reality somewhere beyond the horizon of our sight.

At the end of the day, the choice we face at every difficult junction of life is not merely between bitter and better—it is even more fundamentally about faith. Do we really believe there is a better road than bitterness? Will we leave the burden of our suffering in God’s hands and trust that he is able to handle it without minimising our pain? Will we step forward and act on the secure hope that his promises are true, and his justice is greater (and more just) than our own? The better path may not be an easy one, but it is a trail blazed for us by Jesus, a Saviour who knows the way to the mountain of real, genuine joy. He travelled, like us, in the valley of pain and sorrow, and he planted his signposts to guide us home. Do we believe him?

Another Chance (a poem)

It’s been months since I paid any attention to the long-lost autumn leaves that are lying in the grass alongside the roads and paths that I walk on. The glorious colour they impressed me with when they fell is nothing but a memory now. Then again, have you seen what frost can do to a leaf on the ground? This morning, every vein of every leaf is highlighted in white—the intricate patterns stand out in shimmering relief—and once again my eyes are drawn in renewed wonder. A few weeks ago, I would have told you that these leaves were far beyond their glory days. This morning, they shine unexpectedly with a new and different kind of glory. Our Creator can make beauty shine from a pile of dead leaves, and anywhere he wants, and long after we’ve given up hope of it ever coming again.

Another Chance

The leaves of autumn
Long since fallen
Dry and brown
Across the ground
Are now alight
With something new—
The frozen work of last night’s dew
Outlining all their patterned ribs
And in the morning light it gives
These fallen leaves another chance
To shine

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

Stop Looking For Friends, And Start Making Them

The treasure of true friendship is some of the richest, most valuable wealth in the whole world. If financial poverty eventually makes life unsustainable, friendship poverty makes it unbearable. By true friendship, of course, I don’t just mean acquaintances you enjoy a laugh with every once in a while, or online “friends” you can share pictures of your dinners with. I mean the real thing. The deep thing. The close thing. The uninhibited, understanding, unhurried and unbreakable thing. I mean the people who stick even when other people let go, the people who love you even after you’ve done wrong—and too much to let you get away with it. I mean the people who laugh with you about stupid inside jokes and cry with you about losses and disappointments and who know exactly what you’re thinking just by the faces you make. I mean the people you can trust enough to share life with—not just the social media highlight reel life, but the really real life, in all the mess and joy and shame of it. Friendships like these are more valuable than Blackbeard’s buried treasure (which is still buried, by the way). If we discovered his treasure hoard without ever developing true friendships, our lives would still be impoverished. Which raises the question: how do we find the treasure of true friendship?

Is there a map we can follow, like the pirates in books and films do? Is it 15 paces south, then 27 west, and then a quick right at the skull rock—mindful of the poison dart trap—and start digging? As hard as those maps might be to follow, at least they give clear directions. Tracking down great friendships can seem a lot more complicated. Close friendship feels like a dying art in an age when you’d think it would be thriving on the benefits of all our time-saving appliances and instant-communication gadgets and airplanes and automobiles. When you think about it, we have a lot of advantages. But somehow even with all these inventions (or is it because of them?) we seem to have forgotten how to really know each other deeply and enjoy each other fully. We have unprecedented access to potential friends like no generation before us has ever enjoyed, yet somehow the treasure of deep, fulfilling friendship remains elusive. It’s a curious and strange reality to find ourselves in, but mostly it’s just sad and true. Where is the map? Where is the treasure? How can we find deep, real, lasting friendships?

What if I told you that the treasure you’re looking for is right in front of you? Would you believe me? Maybe not, and I wouldn’t blame you. I know it doesn’t look like treasure. Not yet, anyway. But it can. Have you ever seen what treasure looks like when it’s in the ground? No, not what a chest full of pirate bounty looks like buried in a hole, that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about the ground where that treasure came from in the first place—before it ever became the golden coins and diamond-studded crowns and before it was shiny enough for someone to lock it up in a chest and hide it and murder for it. I’m talking about the mines. 

Gold and silver and diamonds and such are not pulled out of mountains easily. People dig for miles and miles to find them, and when they do, the raw ore they pull from the earth looks nothing like a pirate’s bounty. It looks more like rocks. Rocks with a glimmer of something more in them, but still rocks. But the miners know what they have. And the smelters know what to do. And the diamond-cutters and coin-minters and jewellery-makers know how to make it all shine so brightly that our eyes pop and we would pay a fortune and risk our lives to claim that glittering hoard for ourselves. Amazing, isn’t it? All of this from rocks in the ground.

We all want the treasure of friendship. Of course we do. It’s treasure! We just don’t all want the process that makes the treasure look like treasure. We want to discover a hoard somewhere that someone else worked and fought for, that someone else mined and minted, and we want it all for ourselves to spend and enjoy as we see fit. Maybe that’s why we’re so lonely. We’ve charted the wrong course by hunting around forever for chests full of ready-made friendship, perfectly formed and perfectly suited to our needs and desires. The reason there’s no map for that kind of friendship is because that’s not how friendship works. Deep friendships are not something we find, they are something we form. They do not magically materialise out of nothing, they have to be made out of the raw materials around us—and the raw materials inside us. 

Have you ever considered that the people around you are looking for treasure, too? And what do they see, when they look your direction? I’ll tell you what they don’t see, at least not the first time they look at you: they don’t see a close friend. It’s not because you can’t be their friend, and hopefully not because you won’t to be their friend. It’s really just the practicality that close friendship requires knowledge and understanding of each other, and understanding requires time and shared experiences, and time and experience require investments of ourselves in each other, and if you’ve only just met then obviously you can’t have done that yet, so you aren’t close friends. Not yet. But if you both want the treasure of true friendship (and you should), you can both have it. You’ll just have to make it. Together. And in the process, you’ll make each other, too.

A Compass For Our Changing World

We’re a few days into another new year, and nobody knows what the next 12 months will bring. What we do know is this: the world is changing fast. Culture is changing. Economics are changing. Demographics are changing. Beliefs are changing. As the world shifts around us, there’s plenty of disagreement about which of these changes are moving us forward, which are holding us back, and what the path of progress should look like. That’s a vital question. Years ago, C.S. Lewis made an important point about it:

“We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world it’s pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistakes. We’re on the wrong road. And if that is so we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.”

If we really want to move forward, we really need to know which way forward is. Just because we’re moving doesn’t mean we’re moving in the right direction. But how will we know the difference? As we embark on a new year, and consider the part we will each play in it, is there a better compass to guide our course than the shifting sands of popular opinion? Thankfully, there is. Many, many years ago God said to his people:

“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you” – Malachi 3:6-7

In those few sentences, our Creator summed up the story of human history. We, the people, have turned every which way in search of everything we long for—every which way except back in trust and dependence on the God who made us. And all the while, as we have tossed and turned and shifted constantly, God has remained the same. In this, and this alone, is our hope. No matter how far we may have wandered down the wrong paths, his invitation remains the same: “Return to me, and I will return to you”. Wherever we are coming from, the direction of real progress will always lead this way—towards him. 

Whatever changes await us in the year ahead, there is one solid foundation we can stand on that never moves: “I the LORD do not change.” He won’t go back on his promises. He won’t revoke his offer of salvation, or quietly update his terms of service. He won’t adjust his commands to suit the sensibilities of the masses, and then adjust them again when the masses change their minds. Because our God is unchanging, we can have confidence in his character, his justice, his love, and his promises. Because our God is unchanging, we can have confidence that his word is a reliable compass to direct our progress. The real question for this year is: will we follow it?

Top Books Of 2023

I’d like to finish the year out by sharing the six best books I read this year, and some recommendations from my family as well. These are not books that came out this year—some of them are old, but I read them this year and enjoyed them. You might, too.

The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener
Where do our modern values like freedom, kindness, progress, and equality actually come from? We may assume them and take them for granted, but Scrivener shows that the value structures of the western world used to be very different. What caused the change? Christianity. This was a reread for me, which is rare. It’s just that good. It’s an easy read, and so important. I wish everyone would read this.

Digital Liturgies by Samuel James
We live in an internet-saturated world, so this book is necessary. In it, James explores how the internet reshapes not only the content we consume but even the way our minds process information and how we view and think about the world around us. It’s a real eye-opener, and manages to stay positive and hopeful in spite of raising a number of serious issues. If you want to navigate the digital age thoughtfully, this is the book you need.

Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie
It’s a classic for a reason. The master of mysteries does not disappoint. My only question is why did it take me so long to get around to reading it?

The Rise And Fall Of Christian Ireland by Crawford Gribben
I really enjoyed how Gribben traces the history of Christianity in Ireland through hundreds of years, complex changes, political intrigues, and social upheaval. The story of Christianity in Ireland is fascinating, and there’s much we can learn from it.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Juster Norton
My children read this and told me I had to read it as well, so I did. They were right. It is fun, lighthearted, and witty, and yet manages to make lots of profound points along the way. One warning for any of you who are not dads: this book is chock-full of puns. I loved it.

Spy The Lie by Philip Houston, Michael Floyd, and Susan Carnicero
I picked this book up on a whim in a tourist shop in DC last summer because it looked interesting. I didn’t regret it. The three authors are all former CIA officers. They share fascinating insights into the system they developed to identify lies, and show how to implement the system in ordinary life. In our world, that’s a good skill to have.

My wife Jessica reads much more than I do, mostly because she reads about three times as fast. I asked her to share a few of her 2023 favourites with you as well. She gave these three:

Atomic Habits by James Clear
A fascinating book about the science of forming and keeping new tiny habits that can lead to significant life change. It works, too!

Into His Presence by Tim Chester
This is a beautiful collection of prayers and meditations from the puritans. It is deep and rich, meant to be read slowly and thoughtfully. It is one that can be read over and over again.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
It’s satire, its social commentary, its epistolary novel, and it’s a classic for a reason. It’s both insightful and entertaining.

Our children are great readers as well, so I asked them to recommend a few. Daniel and David are 16 and 14, and these are their favourite reads from 2023 (these are for teens):

The Faithful Spy by John Hendrix
This is a graphic novel (with plenty of text) that shares the real-life adventures of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and author during WWII who participated in a plot to assassinate Hitler.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
This book is very unique. Our children describe it as gripping, haunting and well written. It is refreshingly original.

Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
Nayeri’s story of growing up in Iran, having to leave because of religious persecution, becoming a refugee and finally settling in America is full of twists and turns. His Persian-style story-telling is gripping, as is the story he tells.

Our daughter Rebekah is 11, and a passionate fan of fantasy fiction. This is a series—actually two series—that she’s been reading and re-reading this year:

The Green Ember Series & Green Ember Archer Series by S.D. Smith
Rabbits with swords. Need I say more?

If you’re like our family, who likes to make a queue of interesting books ready for the reading, you may want to check out some of these for yourself. We’d love to hear your recommendations of books you’ve enjoyed lately as well!