Meg Barnhouse

I heard at school that you could tell where someone was from by how they eat pizza. Philly people fold it lengthwise before they eat it. New York people don't fold it. They hold it above their mouth, tilting their head. If you use a knife and fork, you are from someplace no one even wants to know about. --- "The Point"

Waking Up the Karma Fairy by Meg Barnhouse

This little collection of essays was such a fun read! My aunt recommended this book to me a few years ago. She sold me on it when she read a passage from an essay entitled "Night of Blood and Fire." Life lessons are learned through ordinary things: eating pizza, baking bread, and going bowling. Big issues are dealt with, along with some little ones. All are dealt with with wisdom and a generous dose of snarky humor. Meg Barnhouse is a Unitarian minister living in South Carolina which, I gather, is no easy task. We share some of the same opinions and a fondness for smashing things even though our theologies don't mesh.

Delightful little read that packs a wallop.

... Life is mostly ordinary time. Ordinary time shot through with light and pain and love. Lavish joy on ordinary time. Hope is a wonderful thing. It is good to imagine a time when things will be better, but not if it makes you put off splashing yourself with Joy. --- "Joy in Ordinary Time"… (more)