Living Life Backwards

Pastor’s Bookshelf - Welcome to my bookshelf! 

Each month I will discuss a recent book that I’ve finished. 

This month I’d like to talk about 

Living Life Backwards

By David Gibson

This book was recommended to me recently by another pastor. They sort of off handedly referred to it, and I thought the point they were making was brilliant - so I rushed out to the library (okay, the app on my phone) and downloaded the audio book immediately - I was not disappointed.

This book takes on one of the MOST challenging parts of the bible (the book of Ecclesiastes) and pulls out the brilliance and wisdom contained inside it. If you’re not familiar, the book of the bible called Ecclesiastes has a reputation for being a sort of dark and brooding type of wisdom text. It contains a lot of brilliance and good advice, but it has sort of a dour tone. David Gibson with his approach in this book absolutely brings this book to life.

The primary thrust of the book is the idea that you can only truly learn to live wisely if you can learn to die well. That is, when we face mortality and let it shape our priorities - then we can access joy and a humility that we would otherwise miss if we were sticking our heads in the sand. It’s a heavy read, but VERY worth it - I highly recommend it.