The Catholic Book Blogger
Life Lessons: Fifty Things I Learned in My First Fifty Years
From the introduction:
God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay. If that little thought doesn’t hit home right now, it if doesn’t kind of bonk you on the head and shake you up a little, don’t worry. Eventually, it will. Someday, you’ll understand.
That in itself is the point of this book. Standing back and looking at the project from a distance you need to realize something. It took fifty years for Patrick to compile this book. The lessons in it are authentic and valuable…but you may not get the point at first. Let it sink in a bit and the lightbulb will go off. The book is not aimed at anyone in particular but the younger crowd will definitely benefit from experiences they have yet to be privy to.
As obviously can inferred from the title the book contains fifty chapters. Each chapter is short and easily consumable. You will likely read more than one in a sitting but perhaps the better method would be to tackle one a day. Each chapter ends with relative scripture readings to the topic discussed. Here are a few overviews to give you a sense of what the book has to offer:
The Beggar – A chance encounter with a beggar, a decision to ignore said beggar and a reconsideration to help him leads to Patrick realizing that when it came to the poor he wasn’t as sympathetic as he should be.
The Waitress – One of the funniest stories in the book, and even more comical if you have a chance to hear Patrick tell the story at a talk, it begins with restaurant waitresses shocked by the eleven children Patrick and his wife have. It ends with a waitress thanking them for their witness to life.
Right Place, Wrong Time – A discussion with a Baptist leads to high hopes of conversion. That is until Patrick takes the gentlemen to a Catholic Church to see the icons contained within. The result is less than ideal and soon Patrick realizes that he needs to allow Jesus in to the conversion effort and not to go it alone.
The Plane Ride – A routine plane ride through the clouds has Patrick equating the cloud levels to the spiritual life. This chapter is a gem of a read.
So there you have it, four examples out of the fifty included in the book. At times you’ll nod in acknowledgement of similar circumstances in your own life. At others you’ll scratch your head wondering how Patrick found himself in the given situation. As each chapter closes you will come to a realization that behind every action, every reaction and every circumstance in life there is a loving God waiting on the other side. Indeed, he loves us as we are but cares enough for us to improve. A blessing indeed.
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