For the next nine weeks, we’re going to spend Tuesdays walking through my newly released book, Even If Not: Living, Loving, and Learning in the in Between.

(You can read part of the introduction of the book here.)

Below you’ll find a short video about chapter one, an excerpt from the chapter, and a free printable! If you want to grab a copy of the book and read along with these posts, you can order it here (Amazon Prime for the win).

P.S. If you order the book before March 23, make sure to forward your email receipt to evenifnotbook@gmail.com to receive two exclusive free prints!

Even If Not // chapter one: questions & answers

“Many situations provide an either/or option. Either we can eat out for dinner or we can stay in. Either you’re the type of person who makes your bed every morning or you’re not. Either you view reading as an enjoyable activity or a cruel punishment.

Sometimes, though, life is more of a both/and.

You can walk in the darkness and believe in the light. There are seasons that make you want to crawl back in bed and hide from the noise, and yet you feel the pull to set out on a new adventure. You can’t decide which pull is greater and so it’s both and it’s and.

There is so much noise everywhere we turn. A quick glance at your Facebook feed, Twitter stream, or news station can more than overwhelm a person. Add in books and people and everywhere more words and, well, the world has become mighty loud.

I haven’t always right known what to say. Do I need to say anything? Do I even have something worth saying? Should I wait until all my questions are answered before I add to the noise?

For a while I pulled back. I’ve attempted to pause but the world kept on spinning mad. And my world kept on spinning with it.

The truth of the matter is that we can’t wait until we’ve got all the answers to start fully living. We can’t hide from our questions because then we also, in turn, hide from the answers.

Most of us are living in the middle of the story. We don’t fully understand where we’ve been and we sure don’t know where we’re going. We are living in the ampersand of it all, in the place between our questions and answers, and if some of us got real honest, we would admit that we have questions that keep us up at night and chase after us in the daylight.

Truthfully, sometimes that’s why we hide. We’re so scared to ask the questions because we’re terrified of what the answers might be. Or maybe we’re even more scared that there won’t be an answer at all.

And so we sit in the dark and we search for a flashlight, making finger-puppet shadow-dances under the covers. But you and I both know that isn’t enough, not forever.”

Video & Free Print

(I promise the videos get (much) better as they go along. Videos aren’t my spiritual gift.)

“The first step to receiving an answer is to be brave enough to ask a question.”

This print is available for exactly zero cents. Just subscribe to the blog (click here or on the image below) to receive the print above + eight others!