You don't need a flower field in the countryside to grow cut flowers, arrange beautiful floral displays or connect with nature. A simple patch of earth is plenty. In Grow and Gather, you'll follow the annual cycle of growing cut flowers, from sowing in spring to seed-collecting in autumn. Simple projects show you how to plant and nurture various flowers, as well as demonstrating the importance of texture, colour and shape when arranging them. Together with these practical projects, tips and hints, flower field gardener and clinical psychologist Grace Alexander guides you in the art of meaningful, engaged and intentional gardening - through mindful growing, you can transform your wellbeing and find a greater connection to your garden and yourself.

Is it singing? A church service? All of life? Helping Christians think more theologically about the nature of true worship, Rhythms of Grace shows how the gospel is all about worship and worship is all about the gospel. Mike Cosper ultimately answers the question: What is worship?

Nolan Burke has everything a man could hope for- well, except for a wife. In his search for a genuine relationship, he's come up empty handed. Desperate for a change of scenery (and desperate for an escape from the attentions of aggressive Rockland women), he's relocating to Brunswick. He is not prepared for Grace. Independent, strong, and decidedly feminine, Grace Buscher is living her childhood dream. While friends and family watch concerned and amazed, she pinches pennies into dollars as the most successful (and only) house-spinster in the greater Rockland area. When Nolan meets Grace, two worlds collide resulting in accidents, misunderstandings, and one silly serenade to a mouse. Noble Pursuits is the introductory book in the Rockland Chronicles series by Chautona Havig. Coming soon: Past Forward- diamond of yesteryear in a contemporary setting.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Castle and The Girls of Atomic City comes a new way to look at American history through the story of giving thanks. From Ancient Rome through 21st-century America, bestselling author Denise Kiernan brings us a biography of an idea: gratitude, as a compelling human instinct and a global concept, more than just a mere holiday. Spanning centuries, We Gather Together is anchored amid the strife of the Civil War, and driven by the fascinating story of Sarah Josepha Hale, a widowed mother with no formal schooling who became one of the 19th century’s most influential tastemakers and who campaigned for decades to make real an annual day of thanks. Populated by an enthralling supporting cast of characters including Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner Truth, Walt Whitman, Norman Rockwell, and others, We Gather Together is ultimately a story of tenacity and dedication, an inspiring tale of how imperfect people in challenging times can create powerful legacies. Working at the helm of one of the most widely read magazines in the nation, Hale published Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and others, while introducing American readers to such newfangled concepts as “domestic science,” white wedding gowns, and the Christmas tree. A prolific writer, Hale penned novels, recipe books, essays and more, including the ubiquitous children’s poem, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” And Hale herself never stopped pushing the leaders of her time, in pursuit of her goal. The man who finally granted her wish about a national “thanksgiving” was Lincoln, the president of the war-torn nation in which Hale would never have the right to vote. Illuminating, wildly discussable, part myth-busting, part call to action, We Gather Together is full of unexpected delights and uneasy truths. The stories of indigenous peoples, immigrant communities, women’s rights activists, abolitionists, and more, will inspire readers to rethink and reclaim what it means to give thanks in this day and age. The book’s message of gratitude—especially when embraced during the hardest of times—makes it one to read and share, over and over, at any time of year.

Randy Litchfield’s fresh look at the perennial question of vocation combines theological reflection on the development of personal spiritual identity with a thoughtful look at the significant dimension of place – how the realities of our contexts call for particular responses to vocation in specific times and places. Roots and Routes helps pastors and leaders claim a rich vocational imagination for recognizing God’s ongoing call to partnership in the specific, concrete locales of ministry. The Carnegie Institute’s rich ethnographic studies of graduate education in the professions reveal that guiding experiences of risk are at the heart of professional development – combining call with experiences in the actual realities of professional life. Hence the emphasis on field education and internships. But how can we help pastors and leaders see calling as a life-long process of discernment and response? With ministerial burnout (and confusion) at an all-time high, connecting the dots between the ongoing call of God and the specific locales of ministry is an interpretive life-skill necessary for pastors, leaders, and disciples of Jesus Christ. Failed vocational imagination obstructs the effectiveness of individuals and the church as a whole in fulfilling their mission of partnership with God’s creating, redeeming, and sustaining work in the world. The primary audience for the book is seminary educators and students and pastors. It also has congregational leaders in mind.