Updated Schedule (as of 4/13)

Week 1 (2/5)

*Introductions

The Beginning

Week 2 (2/12):

Part 1: Barriers to Owning Your Life

   Chapter 1: Seeing Beauty and Purpose in Your Ordinary Days

   Chapter 2: Controlling the Chaos

   Chapter 3: Listening to New Voices

Week 3 (*Did not meet due to bad weather*):

Part 2: Owning Your Vision

   Chapter 4: Living with the End in Mind

   Chapter 5: Look to God as Your Life Coach

Week 4 (3/5): 

Part 3: Owning Your Life by Giving God Control

   Chapter 6: Resting in the Transcendence of God

   Chapter 7: Allowing God's Spirit to Breathe in You

Week 5 (3/12): 

Part 4: Owning Your Life by Partnering with God

   Chapter 8: Cultivating the Practices that Deepen Your Faith

   Chapter 9: Learning to Take Risks

  

Week 6 (3/19):
     Chapter 10: Tending Your Heart and Investing in Your Soul

Week 7 (3/26): 

   Chapter 11: Choosing to Overcome: Moving Beyond Hurt

   Chapter 12: Harvesting Godly Character

Week 7 (4/9):

Part 5: Owning Your Life by Loving Well

   Chapter 13: Pursuing Life's Most Defining Commitment

  

Week 8 (4/16): 

   Chapter 14: Cultivating a Sense of Place
   Chapter 15: Building a Legacy Over a Lifetime

Week 9 (4/23):

  Chapter 16: Shaping Generations to Come
  Chapter 17: Living Intentionally to Leave a Legacy of Faith

*Potluck lunch

Book Notes for Part 3

The weather was bad for the third Thursday in a row, so I missed most of you last week. There were two of us there so we went ahead and discussed Part 3: Owning Your Life by Giving God Control.

Chapter 6, "Resting in the Transcendence of God: Owning the Mystery of His Supremacy", encouraged us to a childlike faith by "owning a sense of wonder at God's transcendence, acknowledging that He is above and beyond anything we can imagine" (p. 72). Sally Clarkson exhorted us to bow our hearts toward Christ, to practice worshiping regularly, and to choose thankfulness.

Chapter 7, "Allowing God's Spirit to Breathe In You: Owning the Holy Spirit's Strength through Your Life", was a great reminder that we must learn to walk in the Spirit. The author begins the chapter with an illustration from her experience on a sailboat. She then moves to the spiritual realm.

"How we all long to sail through life with such ease and grace, flying through our days with the supernatural hand of God over all the details of our lives. Yet often we stay dead in the water, with no hope of moving forward as we depend on our own power to row forward. We may even diligently try pushing our oars against the tension of the waters that press about us, laboring to make progress in the Christian life through our own great efforts." (p. 84)

"Too many believers experience the Christian life as a work to be done, a duty to perform, a list of things to be checked off. Yet our works always fall short. Whenever we consider how well we have given, served, loved, or shared the gospel, we feel disappointed because we think God is disappointed with us. Does this really reflect the heart of God?" (p. 85)

" Our works do not earn us God’s presence or favor. Depending on them is a losing battle because we will never, in our own flesh, be able to live up to the law’s standard . The best we can do is to gut it out in the midst of our innate selfishness and immaturity as we try living by rules and works in a hopeless effort to be “good enough.” Thankfully, God never called us to live a “good Christian life” based on effort and rule keeping . He wants us to experience His magnificent personality, not just know the rules He handed down. We are fully alive only when we seek to hear the melody of His song and see the treasures that yield a clue to His majesty. " (p. 85-86)

I pray that we would be women who rest in the transcendence of our awesome God and live, not by works, but by the Spirit of the living God.

~Georgina

*Clarkson, Sally. Own Your Life: Living with Deep Intention, Bold Faith, and Generous Love. Tyndale Momentum.  

Week 1 Summary

This past Thursday was the first meeting of our little book club. We shared where we are at spiritually and discussed the concepts found in the section of the book titled, "The Beginning: What Will Be the Legacy of Your Life?" (beginning on page xv).

Sally Clarkson begins this section by repeating questions posed by a speaker she heard in her early twenties:

"What will be the legacy of your life? What story will the days of your life tell? Will you invest your life for eternity, or spend it, wasting the days on things that do not matter, on issues that will quickly fade away?" (Clarkson, p. xv)

It is imperative that we ask ourselves these questions. It is the norm in our culture to go rushing about from one activity to the next. Days turn to weeks. Weeks turn to months. And so on until we realize that we have wasted years of our life. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must not live as the world lives. We must "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which [we] have been called" (Eph. 4:1).

 As we begin to ponder our life, our story, our legacy, we will see that this is the beginning of owning our life. The author gives her definition of what it means to "own" your life as

"taking responsibility for [our] own behavior, decisions, and attitudes so [we] may fully embrace God's amazing vision for [our] life and leave a legacy that points others to Him. Quite simply, owning [our] life means living up to [our] spiritual potential" (p. xvii)

As we begin this journey of owning our life, here are a couple more quotes to encourage you from the first section of the book:

"There is no single way to serve God, but the point is this: We each have only one life to live to tell a story about Him, about His ways, about His love. And if we are Christ followers, then God calls us to use our gifts, to exercise our faith, and to become salt and light right where we are." (p. xxi)

"...God has created you with the potential to live a purposeful, meaningful life that is spiritually strong and vibrant. But you have to choose to follow Him, to believe Him, to live for Him. You must choose how to live every day. Own your life. Choose whom you will serve. Live into Christ’s love and the power of His Spirit working through you." (p. xxii-xxiii)

This week we will be discussing Part 1: Barriers to Owning Your Life. This section includes chapters 1-3 (pages 1-38). Can't wait to see you this Thursday!

~Georgina

Clarkson, Sally (2015-01-06). Own Your Life: Living with Deep Intention, Bold Faith, and Generous Love . Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Edition.

Welcome to the 36th Street Book Club!

Hi Ladies! I thought I would set up a little place on the web that we could connect and encourage one another. I know that Facebook is ideal, but I do not do FB. I also thought of doing a Yahoo group but didn't want to require anyone to sign up. Here goes!

The book that we will be reading is Sally Clarkson's Own Your Life. I have a few print copies of the book, but if you prefer a digital copy you can grab it here. Also through that link, you can watch a trailer for the book and watch a video of the author as she speaks about the concepts in the book with a few friends.

As of now, we are set to meet Thursday mornings for the next nine weeks. We will meet at my home on 36th Street from 9:45-11:15am. We will have a child wrangler (my oldest son who is 13) who will try to corral kids upstairs, but I must ask you to be responsible for your own kiddos. My house is not baby proof. We have a lot of Legos and other toys with small parts.

That's enough housekeeping for now. Here is the schedule as it stands for now:

Week 1 (2/5)

*Introductions

The Beginning

Week 2 (2/12):

Part 1: Barriers to Owning Your Life

   Chapter 1: Seeing Beauty and Purpose in Your Ordinary Days

   Chapter 2: Controlling the Chaos

   Chapter 3: Listening to New Voices

Week 3 (2/19):

Part 2: Owning Your Vision

   Chapter 4: Living with the End in Mind

   Chapter 5: Look to God as Your Life Coach

Week 4 (2/26): 

Part 3: Owning Your Life by Giving God Control

   Chapter 6: Resting in the Transcendence of God

   Chapter 7: Allowing God's Spirit to Breathe in You

Week 5 (3/5): 

Part 4: Owning Your Life by Partnering with God

   Chapter 8: Cultivating the Practices that Deepen Your Faith

   Chapter 9: Learning to Take Risks

   Chapter 10: Tending Your Heart and Investing in Your Soul

Week 6 (3/12):

   Chapter 11: Choosing to Overcome: Moving Beyond Hurt

   Chapter 12: Harvesting Godly Character

Week 7 (3/19):

Part 5: Owning Your Life by Loving Well

   Chapter 13: Pursuing Life's Most Defining Commitment

   Chapter 14: Cultivating a Sense of Place

Week 8 (3/26): 

   Chapter 15: Building a Legacy Over a Lifetime

   Chapter 16: Shaping Generations to Come

Week 9 (4/2):

   Chapter 17: Living Intentionally to Leave a Legacy of Faith

*Potluck lunch