We all do it! We attempt to neatly compartmentalized our lives into neat categories or boxes, if you will. We feel we hardly have time or need to open these boxes and re-clutter our lives. Most of us feeling as though the messiness of our lives needs containment.  Christine Organ challenges her readers to unpack those boxes and examine the contents within.

In Christine’s book, Open Boxes: the gifts of living a full and connected life, she opens her own life and allows her readers follow her journey to finding divine in living her daily life.  I was struck by her use of the word “grace” and finding grace in the less obvious places. Her essays gently weave a thread of grace through the fabric of life.

As a mother, the story, “Divine Kindness in an Old Navy Parking Lot” stuck with me.  It reminded me of the old adage that “you don’t always get what you want, but you get just what you need”. In a moment when motherhood has resulted in a kick in the pants, a stranger’s kindness can remind you just how awesome you are as a mother.

The brooding, moody child in me, devoured her story “Overflowing”. Not simply because I related, but I felt as though I had lived and breathed her experiences. She encouraged me to live as I am and accept that I am overflowing and that’s not a bad thing.

What I appreciate most about opening the boxes through Christine’s journey is that it encourages self-reflection.  Each story is a delectable morsel with which one is able to digest and apply to their own life. The stories allow the reader to find their own resilience and divine within their lives.

She examines life with existential wisdom while providing real and honest reflection of her family, faith, motherhood and marriage.  Her reflective essays take you on a journey to find the good even when life seems insurmountable.

After reading Open Boxes, I feel encouraged to continue to search for the divine and embrace the grace of life.  I can not wait to share the book with others so they may experience the same.