Present over Perfect by Shauna Nieqist

I purchased this book at the Global Leadership Summit and have enjoyed every chapter. A book in season for all of us who are too busy and need to learn to be quiet. Here is an extract I read yesterday that resonates with me.

“I am not building a castle or a monument: I’m building a soul and a family. I’ll tell stories all my life, writing on napkins and on the backs of receipts, or in books if they let me, but this is the promise I make to God: I will never again be so careless, so cavalier with the body and soul you’ve given me.

They are the only things in all the world that have been entrusted entirely to me, and I stewarded them poorly, worshiping for a time at the altars of productivity, capability, busyness, distraction. This body and soul will become again what God intended them to be: living sacrifices, offered only to him. I will spend my life on meaning, on connection, on love, on freedom. I will not waste one more day trapped in comparison, competition, proving and earning. That’s the currency of a culture that has nothing to offer.”

Our world is so busy and it is so easy to get sucked into consumerism, competition and busyness. As we start this year take a step back, reflect on where you are and where you want to go. I know that these words touch me deeply and I will endeavor to live more by this motto in 2017