Something I do that keeps me feeling alive is to read a book that is over my head. Right now I’m reading the middle-ages German mystic, Meister Eckhart’s sermons and writings. Wow!

There are TONS of books out there that linger in the shallow end of the pool. Tons! It’s overwhelming. I don’t know about you, but reading these books actually makes me feel like I’m skimming along the surface and ripping myself off. My mind isn’t turned on and excited, and it ends up bored and frustrated. The true mind likes good exercise. It craves adventure. It wants to take risks. It wants to know, understand, and become wise.

That verse in Malachi where it says that we will be like calves released from their stalls in the spring. Have you ever seen anything like that? I have. They leap for joy, kick their hooves in the air, and are obviously loving life.

I see that as an analogy for our minds when they are released from the stalls of religious thought control.

So this is your exercise: get a book that is over your head and you feel intimidated by, that you’re pretty darned sure you won’t understand, and which you suspect will stretch you well beyond your maximum size.

Promise: you will grow and feel it!