Iron Sharpens Iron, Etcetera

Thanks so much for all your sweet messages about the teaching at Willow this weekend. I loved being a part of the services, and here's the link if you'd like to watch it. We're in a series on Proverbs, and I taught from Proverbs 27:17--As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

In preparation for the teaching, my friend Ryan taught me a little bit about metal working at his motorcycle shop, and what I learned is that metal gets shaped by two things: heat & force. And people, it seems to me, get shaped by two things: trust and truth. Without trust, yelling about the truth is about as effiective as swinging a hammer at an ice cold piece of metal, hoping to transform it.

In other news, my copy-edited manuscript is arriving today (eek!), so the next two weeks will be a really intense push to make all the last changes. Big huge thank you to all the recipe testers--your feedback was so super helpful. 

The week ahead is all book, book, book, and then the weekend's full of adventures: I'm speaking at an event Satuday morning, then hosting a baby shower for my sister-in-law, then taking a super-quick trip to LA to speak at APU's chapel on Monday, Nov 12.

And then once again I will be right here at my desk all next week, red pen in hand. If I'm a little less reachable than usual these two weeks, that's why, because I'm frantically trying to make every single last little change in the manuscript before it gets sent off. 

Thank you to all the bloggers who sent emails about early reading & reviewing of Bread & Wine. If you haven't done that yet, feel free to send an email with your info, and we'll be in touch after Christmas--the release is March 26th, so we'll get early copies out well before that. 

A few other completely unrelated items: have you seen Lindsay Letters new shop? Amazing, right? We'll be doing a giveaway soon to celebrate all her fancy new goods.

And have you seen Smitten Kitchen's new cookbook? It's absolutely gorgeous. I want to make practically every recipe, and the text and photography are beautiful. I want to buy it for everyone on my Christmas list. 

And finally, a quote I've always loved that seems particularly appropriate right now:

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is a quiet voice at the end of the day that says, I will try again tomorrow."                                                                                                     --Mary Ann Radmacher

 

(Photo credit: Amanda Thomas)