The Light We Carry {A Book a Day 11}
As much as I loved her first memoir Becoming, I also love this second one by former First Lady Michelle Obama.
In The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, Michelle Obama continues sharing wisdom that she learned and is learning in her experiences as a daughter, wife, mother, friend, and First Lady.
She is relatable, humble, and kind as she tells stories from her life, with lessons we can all use in our own lives, ranging from feeling anxious in the pandemic, watching adult children make their own decisions, and dealing with inevitable differences in relationships.
Michelle Obama is the kind of woman you’d love to have in your group of best friends.
Favorite Quotes from The Light We Carry
“The unknown is where possibility glitters. If you don’t take the risk, if you don’t ride out a few jolts, you are taking away your opportunities to transform.”
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“Another important thing to remember about friendship: What mattered was that we just kept showing up, in closeness, in commitment, in compromise, and even in fatigue. For me, it’s all about showing up.”
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“I often say that it’s much harder to hate up close. When we drop our fears about newness and open ourselves to others, we are practicing an important form of micro-connection.”
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“With our friends, we are always looking for very simple reassurances that we matter, that our light is recognized and our voice is heard—and we owe our friends the same.”
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“Life has shown me that strong friendships are most often the result of strong intentions. Your table needs to be deliberately built, deliberately populated, and deliberately tended to.”
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“The challenge is to shift our perspectives and celebrate the value of differentness in ourselves and in others, seeing it as reason to step forward rather than back, to stand up rather than sit down, to say more rather than less.”
Have you read a good memoir lately? Share in the comments.
You are on Day #11 of the series, A Book a Day {Nonfiction Favorites}.
Each day of February 2023 I’m recommending one book a day from favorite nonfiction books I’ve recently read.
The Table of Contents for all 28 books is here, updated daily.
Previous:
“Someday Is Today” {Book 10}
Next:
“God Can’t” {Book 9}
Thank you for sharing this book with us. I love to read. Many of the books that you shared are now on my wanti to read list.
I like the idea that it’s hard to hate up close. Thanks for sharing this review, Lisa!
I’ve not read her work, and I love these quotes, especially that it is harder to hate up close, and that we must build our tables intentionally. Our family invites people to our table that, it seems to me, a number of white Americans avoid . . . We’re of European descent, so African Americans, Asians, our daughter’s Muslim friend from Saudi Arabia (he’s back home now), and elderly. Close proximity, getting to know people as people, human to human, you might say, Lisa, is a way of intentional table-and-relationship building, and a safeguard to prejudice. thanks for the recommendation. xo Lynn
PS Oh and love that glitter quote. I do think that risk, the edges of life, places we might be afraid to go, the risks, often shimmer with beauty and blessing. At least, I’ve found it to be so.
I also enjoyed Michelle Obama’s first book “Becoming” and have been wondering about her second book. I’ll be putting this on my 2023 reading list now. Thank you, too, for gathering here some of your favourite quotes from Michelle’s book.
I love watching her on interviews but will admit never read her books. This does sound good! What a lady she is. I kinda wish she would run for president.