shauna niequist’s bittersweet … free stuff

Today, I’ve been in bed all day. Nasty virus kept me up all night, asleep all day. And I am t-i-r-e-d. When I am this tired, my body weak and worn, I feel fragile. Days like this make me wonder in awe at my healthy self. The one that gets up early and writes and rides and makes pies.

Today I am gifting a copy of Shauna Niequist’s book, Bittersweet, to you.

Because it’s a lovely book and because life is full of bittersweet … days when you’re weak in wondering why people’s lives are filled with chronic heartbreak or incurable cancer or extreme poverty.

Bittersweet is the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, there is a sliver of lightness on even the darkest of nights, a shadow of hope in every heartbreak, and that rejoicing is no less rich when it contains a splinter of sadness.

Bittersweet is the practice of believing that we really do need both the bitter and the sweet, and that a life of nothing but sweetness rots both your teeth and your soul. Bitter is what makes us strong, what forces us to push through, what helps us earn the lines on our faces and the calluses on our hands. Sweet is nice enough, but bittersweet is beautiful, nuanced, full of depth and complexity. Bittersweet is courageous, gutsy, earthy.

~ Shauna Niequist

To enter to win the book, tell me what makes you feel strong or what makes you feel weak?

This giveaway now closed.  Winners announced here!

Still up for grabs this week:

  • black Tony Lamas roughed up and wonderful. Certain to give you cowboy credibility.

  • 5 copies of Love Does by Bob Goff. Certain to give you tons of ideas to love people.

 

A reminder, the ’31 days of enough’ giveaways this week work like this:

1) Only one entry per giveaway item. 2) You are eligible to win only one item a week. 3) Entries on this item open until 5 pm (CST) on Friday 10/12/12. 4) Winners must live in the contiguous United States. This week’s winners will be announced on Saturdays (10/13) on my blog. Please check your email promptly if you’re announced as a winner.