Cure for the Common Life

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I didn't know anything about writing, and I was worried about walking away from a steady paycheck. Things were tight enough as it was. Cure for the Common Life addressed every issue I was dealing with. God used it to answer my questions and dispel many of my fears and doubts. I've been writing for several years now, and I can't imagine what my life would have been like had I continued teaching after I had lost my joy for it. If you're struggling to find joy in the journey, maybe it's time for a change. Lucado's book is an uplifting guide to studying your life in order to find the perfect place for you.

The book comes with a Discovery Guide to help you determine your true sweet spot. It's truly a must read for anyone who suffers from daily discontentment or who asks the question, "Is this all there is? I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Apr 10, Lindsey Gandhi rated it liked it Shelves: Let me start by saying I love Max Lucado and I love his messages. Having said that, this book didn't quite inspire me the way I thought it would. But that doesn't mean it's a bad book, on the contrary - he has an excellent message. God has a plan for all of us, has a purpose for each of us. We have to figure out that plan and purpose and get to a point where we can live in our sweet spot. Great message, just didn't inspire me the way I felt I needed right now. Jan 03, Christie rated it it was amazing Shelves: What a great book to start out the New Year.

This book is a gorgeous testament to God and to the Divine Nature in everyone. It proposes that while we may be successful at many things, there are specific areas in which God wants us to live our lives and in which we will be the happiest. He calls this your "sweet spot. I love the concept that we were all pre-packaged with our own unique What a great book to start out the New Year.

I love the concept that we were all pre-packaged with our own unique talents and gifts. While certainly not a new concept to me, Lucado does an excellent job of illustrating it.

The book even has a workbook section at the end that is actually very helpful in deciphering your "sweet spot" and curing your common life. Here are a few ideas from the book that I liked: You can't do anything you want to do but you can do everything God wants you to do. Have you ever had the experience of spinning your wheels trying to do something? Have you ever had the experience of having something come with ease to you?

Too ofen we tell ourselves we can be anything we want to be. Lucado presents the idea, what if this isn't true? What if we can't be anything we want to be but everything God wants us to be? Treat your children not as a book to be written but one to be read. I loved that because we often think as parents we think our job is to "mold" our children into good people. They are already molded. God shaped them before they ever got here. Our job then becomes deciphering those unique things God put into our children and helping them to maximize their potentials. Such a lovely thought.

I enjoyed all of the focus on service and on living to Magnify Christ. And finally, I loved the idea that no matter our work, be it a banker, lawyer, Mom, etc. I highly recommend this book to one and all. Jul 23, Brook added it. Jan 27, Greg Reese rated it it was amazing. I continue to read more of Max Lucado's books now that I am hooked. This book blew my mind. I am forever grateful to my pastor for recommending this book. If not for him, I would have never read the book and would have never become a much better person.

As is, I read it and find myself excited about my life journey. As the title states, Max Lucado explains God's purpose for us on earth. God doesn't intend us to lead boring lives. God wants us to discover these skills, apply them, and bring glory to Him. God promises that once we find our sweet spot in life, our lives will never be boring and will be very rewarding.

Max Lucado uses verses from all over the Holy Bible, the living embodient of God's Word, to support his points. He writes so well due to his uncanny ability to explain in such a way that everyman and everywoman can understand and relate to. I highly, highly recommend this book! It was good and written with the characteristic Max Lucado charm, but it many ways it read like a self-help book for Christians, which isn't what I was hoping for. He did have good insights, and to anyone lost as to their direction in life and seeking God, I'm sure it would be a great help.

However, I feel like he reiterated the same things constantly, and you would only need to read a few chapters and absorb everything you needed to know. I guess that this just wasn't the book I was looking for o It was good and written with the characteristic Max Lucado charm, but it many ways it read like a self-help book for Christians, which isn't what I was hoping for.

I guess that this just wasn't the book I was looking for or needed, otherwise I would have appreciated it more. Jul 04, Joanne Reese rated it really liked it. This was a delightful read that I picked up again after reading it years ago. I found the principles insightful and spot on.

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Lucado brought his ideas home with entertaining anecdotes and perfectly placed humor. And with the interactive questions in the back of the book, I was delightfully surprised to find that my answers to these questions still mirror my passion and my heart. This tells me that Lucado's premise is one that stands the test of time. I would highly recommend this book for anybody This was a delightful read that I picked up again after reading it years ago.

I would highly recommend this book for anybody who is interested in being intentional about her contribution to the world. Jun 16, Debbie rated it really liked it Shelves: Aug 16, Becky rated it liked it Recommends it for: Those struggling to find their way. This book is to help you find what you were really meant to do with your life. It gives you a Christian perspective on what you are here for. It has a skill assessment in the back of the book too to help guide you along in the process.

Jan 20, Trinity rated it really liked it. Jun 22, Caio Melo added it. Was a gift from two people that I look up to. Jan 23, Dianne rated it it was amazing. This book was full of good ideas and fun stories about finding your sweet spot and joy in life. Feb 26, Mikayla rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book was perfect for helping firm up what I'm doing with my life. It had a lot of thought provoking questions, and advice. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is trying to discover what to do with their future. Apr 05, E. Padilla rated it it was amazing. For such a short book of pages, I thought I would plow right through it.

But I plodded along, reading one chapter every few months. Then, today, as I finished my third book Tunnels and submitted it to my copy editor, I finally, turn to this book, with the goal of finishing it. I've made a habit of reading at least one small chapter in the bible every morning. Over time, I started praying again.

I haven't done that for years. As I started trying to transition into a full-time writer, I star For such a short book of pages, I thought I would plow right through it. As I started trying to transition into a full-time writer, I started finding more energy and an increase in happiness. My prayers started to focus on other family and friends and not so much about me. I started to see how lucky I am to be given not only the skills set, but the time, and stamina to continue to pursue writing; a passion that I didn't really understand about my self.

This morning, as I prayed my small morning prayer, I asked God to help me use my gift of writing to bring him glory and give me an occupation that I can pay all of my bills and then help others. The last chapters in this book was exactly this. An accumulation of everything I've been experiencing over the last few months. Realizing that I am truly lucky to have been exposed to, and in a place to take advantage of this opportunity, a gift that was hidden inside for decades. And as I begin to see the fruits of my labor, experience the rewards of my toil, I am humbled to know that I have been guided this entire time.

I just wasn't able to hear or feel it. I was too caught up in the stresses of my day to day life and the challenges that we all face. But now, as I begin to achieve my goals, a goal to self-publish five books, I find myself even blessed more as I continue discovering more stories and ideas, so much so that I am now committed to writing nine in total and counting.

I can see my dream becoming a full-time writer turning into reality before my eyes. The last words of this chapter are the end of this book. And when your uniqueness meets God's purpose, both of you will rejoice How could I have saved this last chapter, reading it the same day I finish my third book? It has to be a sign. I'm on the right track. You should give it a try. Aug 06, Kelly rated it it was amazing. What an amazing book! It's written with really short sentences so it's easy to read and remember - great for one that is supposed to help you make changes to your life. Makes me think and inspires me to be more confident in who the Lord created me to be in the beginning.

It also has really helped me with parenting, actually. Good job, Blue, for getting it for me! Here are some underlined passages in my book -- What engineers give sports equipment, God gave you. A zone, a region, a life What an amazing book! A zone, a region, a life precinct in which you were made to dwell.

He tailored the curves of your life to fit an empty space in his jigsaw puzzle.

And life makes sense when you find your spot. Dispatch your abilities, and unfurl my goodness. We accept the present, but neglect its purpose. We accept the gift, thank you, but ignore the Giver and promote self. He knew young Isreal would need a code, so he gave Moses a love for the law. He knew the doctrine of grace would need a fiery advocate, so he set Paul ablaze. And in your case, he knew what your generation would need and gave it.

And his design defines your destiny. Americans shell out more for garbage bags than 90 percent of the world's countries spend for everything. Indeed, America has double the number of shopping malls as it does high schools. Greed comes in many forms. Greed for the best office, the fastest car, the prettiest date.

Greed has many faces, but speaks one language: David rejected the armor, selected the stones, lobotomized the giant, and taught us a powerful lesson: Indeed, what fits the king might not fit you. Just becasue someone hands you armor, you don't have to wear it. Just becasue someone gives you advice, a job, or a promotion, you don't have to accept it.

Let your uniquness define your path of life. Success is not defined by position or pay scale but by this: That's all within the first 46 pages May 31, Kayce rated it it was amazing. You were never designed to live that way! God wants you to thrive, to be completely satisfied and to engage in your gifts that he equipped you with before you even came out of the womb. Luckily, the small group bible study I co-lead decided to begin a Christian themed book club while we are in between our bible studies.

Max uses such clear teachings and writes laugh out loud examples. I even read parts of it out loud to those who were nearby. All those quirks, likes, dislikes, and hobbies of your youth, adolescence, college, and first career ventures are signs of what you are destined to do. We all came pre-packed with a bag of qualities, traits and tools to discover our sweet spot. Outlined as your S. This was a great read with valuable guidance and teachings. I recommend this book for anybody searching for their sweet spot; Max Lucado never disappoints. Jul 15, Brandon Current rated it it was ok.

This book is an example of illustrations gone rogue. Each chapter contains one simplistic idea that could be set down in a sentence, and then that thought is painted in story after story with a internet-forard kind of mushy feel. I also regret any book that supports its argument through interpretation of simplistic illustrations. Not to discount all wisdom gained by experience, but those are deep and reflective, not the quick analysis of trite stories.

In his illustration of justific "Don't Read. In his illustration of justification, he ends up depicting Christ as rebelling against his Father's authority in order to make the sinner feel better about themselves. Lucado also uses Scripture poorly to support his ideas. He pulls them out of context and rebuilds a context through more story telling. The problem with that is the authority of Scripture does not lie in the true historical event, but in the purpose of the narrator who recorded it.

It is the words of Scripture that are inspired, and we must keep our point to point of the author, not drawing our own conclusion from the historical events. If this book were a sermon, it would be immediately be recognized as the ideas of a man misusing the authority of Scripture. When Christian authors set out to write out on a topic as weighty as "How then shall we live? His overall "cure" bears some merit, but he falls into the common trap of equating personality and ability with Spiritual gifts.

That would mean that the unregenerate would already have a gift of the Holy Spirit from birth. However, spiritual gifts in Scripture are often in contrast to natural ability that God's grace may be seen all the more glorious. As for life-planing and career choice, the idea that every person should have a job that feels like what they were built for is damaging.

We can't all get those kind of jobs. Someone has to sweep streets and clear sewers. That doesn't mean we can't learn to do our mundane job to the glory of God and learn to appreciate it, but instructing everyone to quit their mundane job and pursue their dreams is setting people up for further discontent. In the Cure for the Common Life, Max Lucado believed that people need to be living in their sweet spot and enjoying their life. Lucado teaches readers to love themselves and be unique because God made everyone special.

He wanted everyone to find out what gifts God has equipped them with and to pursue their calling. Studying your story will help you find the clues to fulfilling your purpose. We have to not let others define who we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to be doing. The book In the Cure for the Common Life, Max Lucado believed that people need to be living in their sweet spot and enjoying their life.

The book contains two unique stories about people who are living out their sweet spot and changing many lives. This quote stuck out to me: Look over your shoulder, my friend. The crowd is one step back. Still, they seem to know more about your life than you do. Where you should work. Whom you should marry. What you should study.

They will lead your life if you allow them. The first part of the guide is written by People Management International, Inc. The second part of the guide is written by Steve Halliday. You have one, you know. Your life has a plot; your years have a theme. You can do something in a manner that no one else can. And when you find it and do it, another sweet spot is discovered.

Unpack Your Bag You were born prepacked. God looked at your entire life, determined your assignment, and gave you the tools to do the job. Before traveling, you do something similar. You consider the demands of the journey and pack accordingly. Better take some sneakers and pain medication. God did the same with you. Joe will research animals.

Meagan will lead a private school. I need Eric to comfort the sick. Denalyn will marry Max.

God packed you on purpose for a purpose. Is this news to you? If so, you may be living out of the wrong bag. I once grabbed the wrong bag at the airport. The luggage looked like mine. Thrilled that it had emerged early from the baggage catacombs, I yanked it off the carousel and headed to the hotel.

Wrong size, style, and gender. Besides, my pants would be too short with stiletto heels. What would you do in such a case? You could make do with what you have. Cram your body into the tight clothes, deck out in other-gender jewelry, and head out for your appointments. Only at risk of job loss and jail time. Issue an all-points bulletin. Hire bloodhounds and private investigators. Then why do we? Odds are, someone has urged a force fit into clothes not packed for you.

The dad puts an arm around his young son. Your granddad was a farmer. And you, my son, will someday inherit the farm. With your gifts you could make it to the top. The professional world is the way to go. Jesus was a missionary. Do you want to please your Maker? Follow him into the holy vocation. Spend your life on foreign soil. A bequeathed farm blesses the individualist and physically active.

Work outside the home might be a great choice for some, but what if God gave the girl a singular passion for kids and homemaking? Those wired to learn languages and blaze trails should listen up to sermons promoting missionary service. But if foreign cultures frustrate you while predictability invigorates you, would you be happy as a missionary? No, but you would contribute to these mind-numbing statistics: Unhappiness on the job affects one-fourth of the American work force.

One-fourth of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives. Seven out of ten people are neither motivated nor competent to perform the basics of their job. Forty-three percent of employees feel anger toward their employers often or very often as a result of feeling overworked.

Forty-five percent of all U. Feel the force of these figures. You wonder why workbound commuters seem so cranky? An epidemic of commonness. Someone sucked the sparkle out of our days. A stale fog has settled over our society. Week after week of energy sapping sameness. Walls painted gray with routine. Commuters dragging their dread to the office. Buildings packed with people working to live rather than living to work. You exited the womb uniquely equipped. David states it this way: When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

Spelunk these verses with me. The Master Weaver selected your temperament threads, your character texture, the yarn of your personality—all before you were born. God did not drop you into the world utterly defenseless and empty-handed. You arrived fully equipped. Days of difficulty and victory. What motivates you, what exhausts you. God authored— and authors—it all. Other translations employ equally intriguing verbs: In predishwasher days when mothers drafted young sons into kitchen duty to dry dishes, I grew too acquainted with her set of embroidered dishtowels.

She had embellished sturdy white cloth with colorful threads: Her artisan skills rendered common towels uncommonly unique. God did the same with you! How would you answer this multiple-choice question? You are more than statistical chance, more than a marriage of heredity and society, more than a confluence of inherited chromosomes and childhood trauma. More than a walking weather vane whipped about by the cold winds of fate. Envision Rodin carving The Thinker out of a rock. The sculptor chisels away a chunk of stone, shapes the curve of a kneecap, sands the forehead. Now envision God doing the same: He made you you-nique.

Secular society sees no author behind the book, no architect behind the house, no purpose behind or beyond life.

Society sees no bag and certainly never urges you to unpack one. Be an ambassador if you really care. You can be anything you want to be. If you work hard enough. An unhappy, dissatisfied one perhaps. But a fulfilled one? Can an acorn become a rose, a whale fly like a bird, or lead become gold? You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be. To be true to himself in relation to this eternal vocation is the highest thing a man can practice.

When you live out of the bag God gave, you discover an uncommon joy. I recently flew to St. Louis on a commercial airline. She made her instructions clear: I dared not request anything lest she push the eject button. Perhaps I caught her on the wrong day, or maybe she caught herself in the wrong career. Two weeks later I took another flight. This attendant had been imported from heaven. She introduced herself to each passenger, had us greet each other, and then sang a song over the intercom!

Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot

But then they promoted me. I went from a class of kids to an office of papers. I resigned, took some months to study myself, found this opportunity, and snagged it. Few people do what she did. One job-placement firm suggests only 1 percent of its clients have made a serious study of their skills. You can do something no one else can do in a fashion no one else can do it. Exploring and extracting your uniqueness excites you, honors God, and expands his kingdom.

Discover and deploy your knacks. Sometime after he retired, the generators stalled out, bringing the entire plant to a halt. Steinmetz fiddled with this gauge, jiggled that lever, tried this button, played with a few wires, and after a few hours threw the master switch.

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