Only Love Today: Reminders to Breathe more, Stress Less, and Choose love by Rachel Macy Stafford is classified as Religious/Inspirational, but it’s really just like picking up the phone and talking to your best girlfriend. Rachel writes with a voice that is down-to-earth honest, hopeful, and encouraging. The book is organized by the seasons in small vignettes, sometimes poems, that can be read a like a Daily Devotional. Being a nature lover and gardener, I love that the book started with Spring as the season itself was beginning. This book can be started at any time of the year, but I just felt like starting this journey of intentionally choosing love each day when the sun was shining more, the earth was thawing, and flowers were blooming was just perfect. I read the book straight through, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, but one could skip around, if they prefer. Topics such as New Habits, Growth, Renewal, Authenticity, and Connection are clearly marked. If you felt like you needed clarity on a particular topic, you could easily find what you are looking for, read it, and be inspired.
This book reads like Rachel’s blog, “Hands Free Mama.” The entries are full of depth and insight that leave you with a positive statement about how you can apply it in your own life. As a result of reading this book, I have purposefully slowed down and listened to the people in my life more and I have seen the rewards…the smile on my daughter’s face when I tell her that I do have time to play dolls and I leave the dishes until later, the softening and lightening of the banter between me and my husband now that I choose to stop and acknowledge the things that he does that I am thankful for, and the sweet silly grin on my 3-year-old’s face when I tell him we have to “XOXO Before We Go,” Rachel’s tip to stopping and saying goodbye every time you leave.
Minorcan Mama and "Only Love Today"
More than Words, a Way of Life.
Thankful to Rachel Macy Stafford for sharing these words, this wisdom, with us.
