I've got some really interesting links to share with you

1 Are you a Promiscuous Reader? I, alas, am. Mark O’Connell in the New Yorker.

The reason I don’t finish books is not that I don’t like reading enough; it’s that I like reading too much. I can’t say no. I’ll be reading a novel and thoroughly enjoying it. Then I’ll be in a bookshop and I’ll see something I’ve been anticipating, and I’ll buy it. I’ll start reading the new book on the bus home that evening, and that will be the end of the original affair. I’m certainly invested in the relationship with the book that I’m currently reading, but I can’t help myself from pursuing whatever new interest happens to turn my head. Perhaps that’s just a tortuous way of admitting to being a pathetic serial book-adulterer who’ll chase after anything in a dust jacket.

2 Do you have an infuriating person in your life who brings Jesus or God or religion into the most casual conversation or Facebook interchange? According to Jon Acuff, you’ve been Jesus-Juked.

3 Forgiving the bullies

Jonathan Benz, on Matthew Paul Turner’s blog dissects the process and necessity of forgiveness.

However, words linger even when we seek refuge in faith. If not shared with someone safe, toxic words continue to poison the psyche long after they are spoken.

It would be years later until I could release them.

Sometimes, I’m still not sure I fully have. I used to wish bad things for those guys. I hoped that karma would get them. That they would be impotent. Or in unhappy marriages. Or living miserable lives. I wanted revenge but, alas, vengeance was not mine to be had.

Forgiveness was the only option. My hurt and resentment were only hurting me.

A few years after college, I ran into one of them in the mall. He was not very happy with his life. I listened to him, and I knew in my heart it was time to forgive and let go. I’m sure he didn’t recall the teasing but for me, I walked away feeling better because I didn’t wish him ill anymore.

You see, forgiveness takes time. Releasing shame takes time. Therapy and healing prayer help. Cooperating with the process of life is key too. Things somehow come full circle and how we respond makes all the difference for our future.

Shame also takes time to heal. It is toxic and goes deep. That’s what bullying can cause: SHAME.

4 Michael Hyatt suggests that, when things go horribly wrong, we ask an important question, “What does this experience make possible?”

5 Mark Stibbe on becoming a writer.

6 And best for the last, some very rich advice on writing well from the New York Times.