Rebekah Lyons is the author of Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Towards a Life of Meaning (Tyndale, April 9, 2013). She and her husband, Gabe, co-founded Q Ideas, a nonprofit learning community that educates church and cultural leaders. She lives in New York City with her husband, three children and two dogs.
On your nightstand now:
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I was intrigued by Gretchen's formula of tackling one month at a time, as each subsequent month builds on the one before. Her practical tips show that you can act your way into feeling. Hard to imagine that we need practical steps on going to bed earlier, but we do! I resonate with her Secrets of Adulthood, those lessons learned as a mom and writer living in New York City. She inspires me to run toward a life that is full and abundant!
Favorite book when you were a child:
Nancy Drew Classics, all 64 by Carolyn Keene. I read all of these books in fourth grade. My mom was a teacher, and I would trade in the books after school at the library every few days so I could keep going without interruption. I often remember reading that Nancy was an amateur detective, even though at the time I never understood what the word "amateur" meant. I always fancied she and Ned would fall in love, but they kept it more professional than I preferred.
Your top five authors:
Brené Brown, Richard Rohr, Ann Voskamp, Anne Lamott, Shauna Niequist.
Book you've faked reading:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I've had good intentions... it's embarrassing, really.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer. "We arrive in this world with birthright gifts--then we spend the first half of our lives abandoning them or letting others disabuse us of them.... Then, if we are awake, aware and able to admit our loss--we spend the second half trying to recover and reclaim the gift we once possessed."
Book you've bought for the cover:
Bossypants by Tina Fey. Seriously, who could resist those man arms! Her chapter describing her first photo shoot says it all. I laughed so hard on the plane tears kept streaming down my cheeks, and my youngest was so confused by my simultaneous laughter and tears. She kept asking if I was okay.
Book that changed your life:
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Ann gave me permission to be real. To find the gratitude in all things, even in brokenness and suffering. This kind of brokenness helped me heal. Her weapon of penning the gifts in our life adds to the fullness of our life. My perspective is forever changed.
Favorite line from a book:
"Unsure of what lies ahead or why you've chosen to go on such an arduous adventure... you sense a call to come larger purpose, a call that will not be denied." --from Pilgrimage of a Soul by Phileena Heuertz
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I first read this book years ago on an inlet in Santorini, Greece, and imagined I was braving the elements on a treasure hunt, right alongside Santiago. Caught in the middle of my own season of searching, the story captured my attention from sunrise to sundown--I read the book in one day. I would love to relive that exhilarating adventure year after year, in some other part of the world.