Today I am so excited to share my new favorite book – Cultivate by Lara Casey! The tag line alone had me intrigued from the beginning: A Grace-Filled Guide to Growing an Intentional Life. Isn’t that lovely?!
This is Lara’s second book and she really has done a phenomenal job of addressing real life situations and encouraging you to accept the grace God so generously gives! She covers a variety of topics and ideas, but her message is always the same – pursue an intentional life. And I love that! I love the seemingly obvious reminder – I don’t think I can hear it often enough!
Some of my favorite things that are shared in Cultivate are:
Embrace Awkward
At first glance, this may seem a strange notion, but when you pursue it in more detail it makes perfect sense! The idea is that none of us are ever exactly where we would like to be in our most ideal imaginations. When pursuing our goals and dreams, we should embrace the awkwardness of the unknown – not wait until we are certain that everything is perfect (that won’t ever happen!)!
Embrace the awkwardness of new relationships, the awkwardness of letters or emails that you don’t know how to perfectly compose, the awkwardness of not having every area of your life perfectly presentable. In short: embrace awkward! Don’t run from it or wait until everything is just so! Bring what you have to the table and rely on God’s generous grace to make up for what you lack!
Welcome to the journey of getting messy in the rich soil of possibility—embracing imperfect, grace-filled progress to grow a life of joy. – from Cultivate
Get To vs Have To
This reminder is always worth its weight in gold! Isn’t it so much more encouraging and exciting to realize that we get to live a purposeful and intentional life to bring glory to God rather than thinking that we have to live purposefully and intentionally?! Perspective is incredibly important!
Dream Your Own Dreams
It truly is delightful how Lara writes this book using gardening jargon! She tells of how gardeners plan their gardens specifically and intentionally based on where they live, what they like, how much room they have, what season they are in, etc.
In the same way, we should be intentional to base our dreams on where we are, what we like, what season we are in, etc! Just because others may or may not have similar goals, doesn’t make our goals wrong! We each have our own race to run and we must be deliberate to focus on what God has for us to do!
Cultivate – the Story of the Unlikely Gardener
Lara shares the story of how she came to be gardening enthusiast. Just to read her account makes me want to garden, to nourish plants and watch them thrive! I don’t know if a person could read this book without wanting to plant something!
Be sure to pick up a copy of this book for some encouraging, insightful suggestions on how to live a more intentional life! Available on Amazon
and Cultivate What Matters Shop.
(Amazon affiliate link: by clicking through this link you are helping to support this blog! Thank you!)
Throughout this book you will find thought-provoking questions to help you further consider and personalize the content shared. Let me just encourage you to take the time to intentionally answer these questions!
Perhaps you don’t feel that you don’t have the time to answer the questions, let alone read the book. I do understand how that feels! I believe that it is vital for us to make time for these things, even if it is only a few minutes a week. Skip the time that you spend scrolling through social media and invest in your life instead! Not only will you benefit, but you will bless those with whom you come into contact!
Do you have a favorite book?! One that has encouraged and inspired you? Please share! I am always looking for a new book to read!
Until Next Time!
Hope.
PS. Have you read Emily Ley’s Grace, Not Perfection? I wrote a recommendation for it here!