Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot

"God gave you uniqueness, a talent, a skill, one tht is yours alone to use in honoring Him. Cure for the Common Life can help you find that uniqueness, the "sweet spot" that puts it all into perspective, and show you how to live it everyday so that you aren't just exisiting in God's creation but thriving in His plan." Max Lucado helps you discover that God has a special destiny for each of us, both inspirational and freeing. It made me look at life's journey in a brand new way. This book can cure whatever "blah" that ails you!

This is not a book to hurry through. It is one to read and realy absorb the messages and put them into action.

This has become my most-recommended book to friends that are struggling with work-life balance. It pushed me to think about my talents, and how I could get a new job utilizing more of my natural talents that I enjoy. I changed jobs about a year after studying this book, and I enjoy this job much more than my last. It is much easier finding balance with a job that matches your gifts, versus one that you can perform very well in, but may not fit in with your natural gifts. I shared this book with my Sunday School class, and we covered two chapters a week. We had some great discussions around it. I have also recommended it to my friends that are not Christians, because many of the points simply make so much sense, regardless of whether or not you are a Christian. This is my favorite Lucado book of all.

A new release by veteran author and pastor Max Lucado usually means one thing: someone else's book is about to get bumped off the bestseller list. Few Christian authors are as prolific as Lucado, and among those who are, even fewer have anything as significant to say as he does. Fewer still say it as well as he does. Yes, Lucado is in a class by himself. Lucado seldom disappoints, and THE CURE FOR THE COMMON LIFE exemplifies why that is. This is the author at his best, clearly delivering an inspirational message that has substance to it, using language that perfectly illustrates each point he makes. And he seems to do all this so effortlessly that I suspect he has caused more than one budding writer to give up trying altogether as a concession to Lucado's superior skill. The message of this, his umpteenth book, is clear: God has called you to an uncommon life and a one-of-a-kind assignment as you live out that life. To discover what that is, Lucado offers you a set of tools. Thankfully, this set is not based on the usual psychological tests or personality assessments or spiritual gifts inventories. To find your "sweet spot" --- that place where your passions and talents intersect --- he encourages you to use a method known by the acronym STORY and developed by People Management International. This method involves an analysis of your Strengths (the verbs that describe the actions that have proven successful and satisfying for you, such as "creating" or "organizing"); your Topics (concrete objects or abstract ideas that have fascinated you --- as mundane as "fruit" or as lofty as "wisdom"); the Optimal conditions under which you work (emergency situations, predictable routines, and so forth); Relationships (whether you work better alone, in a partnership, or as part of a team or large group); and your Yes! moments, those times in your life when it all came together, when you felt you had found what you were made to do. Part career guide but mostly a life guide, CURE FOR THE COMMON LIFE avoids many of the legalistic teachings that Christians hear about their work life. Yes, Lucado believes you should perform the duties of your current job "as unto God," but he also believes that being miserable at work is not exactly a blessing from God. He urges readers to be "uncommon" --- unlike the two-thirds of American workers who toil away in the wrong job. If Lucado himself doesn't convince you to take action, then the statistics he cites should: suicides are most likely to occur on Sunday night, while heart attacks are most likely to occur on Monday morning. One-third of Americans hate their careers. Not just dislike them, but hate them. Other "cures," all pure Lucado: Don't heed greed. Be a God-promoter. Every day do something for someone else that you don't want to do. Color Christ with the crayons God gave you. (That last one is typical Lucado: a concrete image that helps you remember the point he just made, long after you've closed the book.) Wheth

DAH!!! to the reviewer that didn't know it was a christian book!! Max Lucado does not write anything BUT from a christian perspective. What is so wrong with reading a book that provides biblical instruction? To be honest, our world would be a much happier, secure place if we would all read and take to heart what God is trying to tell us through his word! I suggest you read the book if you didn't, or re-read it and take to heart what it says. Lucado is the first author to win the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year three times! This book, as with ALL of Max's previous books was a blessing to me. This book will help you if you feel you're sliding through life instead of soaring as God intended you to. Your life has a purpose and this book will bring that purpose to light. The light only God can give!!