Wow! Here's a book to give to every teen with angst, to those who have lost their jobs, to those who feel they are less than perfect in body, mind or lifestyle.
Life Without Limits 
by Nick Vujicic is inspriational, motivational, humorous, sad and just a great read.
This book challenges every reader to turn disabilities into abilities ... challenges into opportunities ... failures into new directions. Vujicic demands that the reader find the sugar for the lemonade that life's lemons require. And he does it with humor, personal anecdotes and lots of love for all.
Nick Vujicic, a now-28 year old man, was born without arms or legs (except for a little, two-toed flipper on his left side). He credits God's plan and his parents' love and family's optimism for getting him to where he is now -- an uber successful businessman, evangelist, inspirational speaker and writer. How did he get from contemplating suicide at the age of 10 to scuba-diving and surfing at the age of 27?
It's all here in this book.
But this book is much more than an interesting autobiography. This book is filled with the "wisdom of the ages" ... with the philosophy of living "a ridiculously good life". But it's not Pollyanna stuff here. This inspirational book tries to get the reader to see beyond the negative ... beyond the failed enterprise, the lost job, the less-than-perfect body. To get the reader to see that God has a plan for each and every one of us ... and once we find that path, we are good to go.
He talks about having a great attitude ... about getting the attitude by being grateful for what you do have, from acting on what works and ditching what doesn't, from empathizing with others who are worse off, and by forgiving those who may have hurt you or upset you (and in doing so, forgiving yourself!). He talks about change for the good: recognizing the need, envisioning what the "new" would look like/be like, forgetting about the past and moving forward, getting settled to make the "new" the "now", and to keep growing and not stagnate or say, "I'm where I should be ... doing what I should do ... and now I should never change this." He talks about the "ridiculous rules" ... the rules necessary for dealing with the small and large risks of living on this Earth:
- test the waters to ensure you know what you're jumping into
- understand and start from knowledge of what you're about to do
- make sure you're "jumping off" at the right time
- ask dear friends, mentors, even enemies their opinion of what you're about to do
- prepare for the seen and unforseen ... in other words, overestimate costs and underestimate revenue
Sprinkled throughout his motivational pep talks and autobiographical anecdotes are information about others whom Vujicic has met throughout his journey -- other quadriplegics/physically disabled, achingly poor and destitute, prisoners and materially-rich/spiritually poor folks. He mentions kids, adults, famous people and not-so-famous people. He shows that God has made us each differently ... and wonderfully ... and for a reason.
No wonder Vujicic is such an in-demand speaker ... his love for God and all God's creatures emanates from the 200+ pages of this book. You can learn more about Nick by checking out his site:
lifewithoutlimits.org.
Great book I'd recommend for teens and older (especially teens or young adults going thru angst of not fitting in or despairing).
Disclaimer: I rec'd this book as part of Blogging for Books review program. The review above is my honest opinion of
Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life.
for the Blessed Mother!)
(my pans are NOT non-stick and I highly recommend using these Kaiser ones!) and then set aside.
... we'll watch 
and 
(we started last night by watching Loretta Young in 
). We'll eat Tuna Lorenzo (tuna salad on homemade English muffins, broiled) and 
, is a marvelous movie to watch for Family Movie Night. Starring Mel Ferrer as De La Salle and Fernando Rey as one of his young recruits, the movie is a wonderful overview of De La Salle's life from being named canon at the Cathedral in Rheims at the age of 28 to establishing the Brothers of Christian Schools at 41 and then dying at the age of 68, having established Christian Brother schools throughout France.
