Placemaker, by Christie Purifoy

5 STARS!

ABOUT THE BOOK -

Images of comfortable kitchens and flower-filled gardens stir something deep within us--we instinctively long for home. In a world of chaos and conflict, we want a place of comfort and peace.

In Placemaker, Christie Purifoy invites us to notice our soul's desire for beauty, our need to create and to be created again and again. As she reflects on the joys and sorrows of two decades as a placemaker and her recent years living in and restoring a Pennsylvania farmhouse, Christie shows us that we are all gardeners. No matter our vocation, we spend much of our lives tending, keeping, and caring. In each act of creation, we reflect the image of God. In each moment of making beauty, we realize that beauty is a mystery to receive.

Weaving together her family's journey with stories of botanical marvels and the histories of the flawed yet inspiring placemakers who shaped the land generations ago, Christie calls us to cultivate orchards and communities, to clap our hands along with the trees of the fields. Placemaker is a timely yet timeless reminder that the cultivation of good and beautiful places is not a retreat from the real world but a holy pursuit of a world that is more real than we know. A call to tend the soul, the land, and the places we share with one another. A reminder that we are always headed home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR -
Christie Purifoy earned a PhD in English Literature at the University of Chicago before trading the classroom for an old farmhouse, a garden, and a writing desk. She is the author of Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons and lives with her husband and four children at Maplehurst, a Victorian farmhouse in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Her lyrical reflections can be found at www.christiepurifoy.com.

MY THOUGHTS -
What a fantastic book! On Amazon this got 91% 5 stars!
I started reading this book very quickly so I could get it done to write the review. About a third of the way in I realized I was enjoying it so much that I really wanted to slow down and "do it right" so I stopped reading it. I intend on reading it again over the summer when I have more time to read it the way it is meant to be read.

This book is a memoir, very descriptive, insightful, sweet, not really a devotional - but really could be used as one. And in my opinion, it is very quotable! I found myself wanting to highlight and flag lines on almost every page (which I certainly will do when I read it in full).

 "Everyplace made by God is loved by God, and that includes every place where His people dwell. If we are willing to look through the lens of his love, then we will see that every place has some particular magic. But what happens when a place is broken in ways a can of paint alone could never fix? Perhaps a mustard seed of peace is planted when we see something wrong - small as a scuff mark or large as a deforestation or famine - and we do not wallow in either despair or bitterness but instead ask for help, ask for paint, try our own unskilled hands at repair and restoration."

This book definitely makes you look at things (your home, your land, your gardens and trees, your life!) a different way - a more thoughtful way.

 I voluntarily posted this review after receiving a copy of this book from Handlebar Publishing  -  Thank You!

Order your copy from Amazon - HERE