When a Friend Mails You a Book to Read in Exchange for Your Thoughts

Today I opened my mailbox to find the book Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson. My wonderful and thoughtful friend sent this book after she began to read it. The book made her think of me! She sent it as a gift so I could read it and give her my thoughts in exchange.

I love this gift! And I feel so loved. I love any kind of book on creativity, and I especially love Andrew Peterson (I listened to his worship song “Is He Worthy?” on repeat for a few weeks). I love when people send me to new authors because they’d imagine we’d be friends.

I want to become the type of person who simply mails books to people in exchange for conversation about the book. What a fun trade!

So here I go, reading a book on creativity and community–all while feeling so loved by this friend. What’s so special about this to me is that this friend and I have hardly spent much time together; we know each other through my blog, my books, and through our shared love of Camp Greystone. But through her kind messages, we’ve become friends. And since the book she sent is all about creating in community, I’m especially thankful for how writing has brought me into a community of friends just like her that I wouldn’t have known well had I never taken the risk to write and create. What a blessing!

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