Free Copy of My Favorite CCEF Booklet
I have a number of copies of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (“CCEF”) booklet:
… and I’d like to give them away FOR FREE to YOU!
All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know you’re interested by midnight Saturday (August 16), and I’ll pop a copy in the mail to you. (Oh! You might want to be sure that I have your snail-mail address too. You can email it to me at info@tarabarthel.com.)
Let me tempt you with just a snippet from the notes I took as I was reading this rich, encouraging, and convicting booklet:
“Have you ever heard this? ‘The Christian life is a wonderful union between duty and desire.’ True! But too often, we hear this as, ‘Do what you are supposed to do and by the way enjoy it!” But pure pleasure was created ‘very good’ and pleasure is being recreated by Jesus as ‘very, very good.’
Remember the distinction between INNOCENT pleasures and GUILTY pleasures:
INNOCENT PLEASURES
– What gives you pure and simple pleasure?
– What truly refreshes you?
– What helps you to lay your cares down and get a fresh perspective on life?
– What enables you to step back into the business and hardship of life with a new joy?
The innocent pleasures come because the greatest pleasure—God himself—is in his rightful place. Innocent pleasures don’t pretend to save you or protect you. They don’t promise you meaning and identity in life.
Innocent pleasures don’t take life’s fragility, pain, frustration, disappointment, and uncertainty and wash them away. They are not the giver of every good and perfect gift; they are just gifts you enjoy.
GUILTY PLEASURES
– Leave a residue; an oily stain
– Contain a quality of obsession, residual guilt or anxiety
– Recreations bring disappointment
– Amusements tend to hijack you—promising to make you feel good, but then failing
Guilty pleasures often arise as a restless escape from troubles; something in life is hard and we want a break. Guilty pleasures promise good things but never deliver them; they leave you with queasy feelings.
There are three broad categories that tempt you towards the guilty pleasures:
1. You are bored, lonely, with nothing to do.
2. You are stressed, frustrated and worn out.
3. You are hurt, betrayed, and treated unfairly. Perhaps you’ve lost someone or something you loved.
These temptations tend to lead us away from innocent pleasures to the stained and guilty ones. We grab for anything that will protect, soothe, comfort, or save us.
The crucial question is …
And I’ll leave you there!
Don’t you want to read the end? 😉
Our family’s gift to you all (until I run out, that is)! Just be sure to leave a comment by midnight Saturday.
Happy Tuesday!
With love,
Tara B.