One Book. Just One.

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #22:

Book

A confession: I almost went back to my original September Writing Challenge post and edited it to say "books" instead of "book." I don't have to follow any rules for the use of "book," but as I started considering the singular word versus the plural word, I got really nitpicky. There are far more writing options for books, but who cares if I write about a book or books when the prompt is "book?"

(Ruminating over things that don't matter is one of my favorite past-times).

In the end, it's all good because I found the book. Singular. And I'm here to write about it. One book: Seekers Wanted by Anthony Sweat.

I became acquainted with this book by complete accident. It was a random pick - I didn't know anything about it aside from the little blurb on the cover: "The skills you need for the faith you want." I'm familiar with Anthony Sweat as a popular speaker for youth (I really enjoyed his presentation 10 Reasons Why Joseph Smith is a Prophet), so I assumed that this was written for a teenage audience, and that it would be a nice, quick read... if I even started it (it was just meant to be a filler book - an "if I get bored" selection, if you will). 

What I didn't know (and what Mister/Brother/Professor/Doctor Sweat doesn't know) is that this book was written for me. I did end up starting it, and it was an immediate page-turner (okay, so technically I listened to the audiobook, so there was never a page turned. What's the audiobook version of "I couldn't put this book down?" "I couldn't turn this book off?"). Never have I read (er... listened to) a religious/faith-based book that was so perfectly attuned to my learning style, my concerns, my questions, and the topics I want and need to study. This book stimulated my intellect and fed my soul. 

I've written before that I think Research Methods is a class everyone should take. Seekers Wanted is like Research Methods for Mormons. Brother Sweat addresses some of the more scholarly approaches to evaluating sources of Church history and doctrine. This book was refreshing and healing for me. I became weepy several times because so many of the messages in this book are things I needed to hear (and also because I read it during a certain hormone-laden time of the month). Of particular interest to me were Anthony Sweat's perspectives on ambiguity in the gospel, sustaining Church leaders, and living the law of consecration. 

I gained some great insights to help me with some issues I have with Church leaders (because yes, I have them), some reassurance that I'm doing just fine in areas of living the gospel where I thought I was failing, and a sense of overall peace with issues that I haven't known how to address for myself or for others. 

After I listened to the book, I went out and bought a copy. You win, Deseret Book! You win!

Now, would I recommend this book to others? Of course! But I also know that just because a book is so right for me doesn't mean that it will mean anything at all to someone else. 

One of my favorite quotes is from C.S. Lewis and expresses how books affect us all differently:

“You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words: but most of your friends do not see it at all, and often wonder why, liking this, you should also like that. Again, you have stood before some landscape, which seems to embody what you have been looking for all your life; and then turned to the friend at your side who appears to be seeing what you saw -- but at the first words a gulf yawns between you, and you realise that this landscape means something totally different to him, that he is pursuing an alien vision and cares nothing for the ineffable suggestion by which you are transported."

This quote comes to mind whenever I feel strongly about a book. My books will not necessarily be your books. But don't let that stop you from giving it a try! Just make sure you get in touch with me if you love it! We will have much to discuss!