Publisher's Description:
"Sweet spot." Golfers understand the term. So do tennis players. Ever swung a baseball bat or paddled a Ping-Pong ball? If so, you know the oh-so-nice feel of the sweet spot. Life in the sweet spot rolls like the downhill side of a downwind bike ride. But you don't have to swing a bat or a club to know this. What engineers give sports equipment, God gave you.A zone, a region, a life precinct in which you were made to dwell. He tailored the curves of your life to fit an empty space in his jigsaw puzzle. And life makes sweet sense when you find your spot.
But if you're like 87 percent of workers, you haven't found it. You don't find meaning in your work--or you're one of the 80 percent who don't believe their talents are used. What can you do? You're suffering from the common life, and you desperately need a cure.
Best-selling author Max Lucado has found it. In Cure for the Common Life he offers practical tools for exploring and identifying your own uniqueness, motivation to put your strengths to work, and the perfect prescription for finding and living in your sweet spot for the rest of your life.
My Review:
I don't have a "job". At least not one that comes with a paycheck with my name on it every week or so or that I need to commute to, so I wasn't so sure about how I would relate to this book. But I am a Max Lucado fan, and when this one became available even my hubby wanted me to review it. (Translation: He wanted me to read it so I could give him the highlights, the high points, etc)
The first thing that really hit me was Max Lucado's statement, "You cannot be anything you want to be. But You can be everything God wants you to be." (emphasis mine) This so goes against everything my generation and the current generation was taught. I grew up being told that I could be anything I wanted as long as I worked at it. After reading this book I realize that while I may be able to accomplish a lot of different things, I can't really be anything other than God intended for me to be. When I step outside of His will then I am effectively living a fake life.
Lucado reinforces this by saying that, "success is not defined by position or pay scale but by this: doing the most what you do the best." I may not make a salary, you may make millions, but if you aren't doing what you do the best (which is probably what God created you to do) then you aren't really successful. It is like you missed the mark. Think of it this way, maybe you were created to be a superbounce ball. You were made to bounce high up in the air. However, you can also roll because you are a ball. If you spend your whole life rolling, which is something you can do, you may be successful. You will never fulfill your purpose though if you don't bounce, if you don't do what you do best. You won't really be successful. Get it?
Lucado warns us though to not "so focus on what you love to do that you neglect what needs to be done" and that every day we should do something we don't want to do. Why? Because one of our biggest purposes is to be a servant. Christ was. He washed feet, he walked with the unwanted, he dined with the unloved, and he died for the criminals. We are called to be like Him.
We were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God. Each of us was made in a unique way to demonstrate a unique quality. Lucado discusses many of the general aspects of that life, the one that is uncommon. At the end of the book is a self-evaluation to help you find your own "sweet spot" the place where your life, your strengths, and God's glory overlap. Every one has one.
I really enjoyed this book. I appreciate the direction that it led me in and that it didn't spell it all out. Lucado recognized that everyones cure is different and he simply points us in the right direction and reminds us that ultimately it is about using what God gave us to show His glory to the world so that others will recognize and turn to Him.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review only.
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