Make Your Bed (& More March Reads)

I finished eight books in the month of March — fully half of which I read during lengthy, 12-15 hour flights to and from South Korea. These books included Make Your Bed plus seven others. Read on for my impression of each title.

No-Fail Habits by Michael Hyatt & Co

in No-Fail Habits, Michael Hyatt walks readers through a proven process to install better habits, create sustainable routines, and batch tasks for efficiency. And he provides reproducible templates readers can use while thinking through all these tasks.

Subtitled Design the Daily Rituals that Help You Win at Work and Succeed at LIfe, this slim volume is a quick and easy read. It contains lots of actionable suggestions for using your time wisely and encourages readers to preserve enough margin to invest in areas of interest outside of work, particularly in the realm of relationships.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

My youngest daughter had to read To Kill a Mockingbird for our co-op’s literature class. The last time I read it aloud to my kids was in 2019, so the two of us decided to go through it together, discussing it as we went.

I love the rich character development throughout the book, but I’m especially fond of Scout and Jem Finch’s father, Atticus. Patient, humble, and determined to do the right thing, even in the face of great opposition, he provides a shining example of quiet integrity.

The book contains mature themes, as well as some unsavory language. I suspect that explains why it has been banned by some school districts. But when it comes to depicting the vile injustice of racial prejudice, I can think of few authors who’ve done a better job than Harper Lee.

Homeschooling by Ginny Yurich

In Homeschooling, Ginny Yurich uses wonderful real-life examples to encourage parents to let kids study whatever interests them most, insisting they’ll learn what they need to know when they need to know it.

While I see value in many of the ideas presented, I believe there’s still a place for parents to require some things (chores, math, spelling, personal hygiene, etc.) that may not particularly delight or interest children at the time but will nonetheless help establish good habits that will serve them well in the future.

Homeschooling will help you think outside the box of contemporary classroom-based education–and that’s a good thing. Just be careful not to use this book as an excuse to avoid teaching your kids things they need to know but may struggle to learn.

Because He Lives by Jennifer Flanders

I read through my devotional journal, Because He Lives, cover-to-cover every year before Easter and complete a dozen or so pages: doing the word studies, using the journaling prompts to jot down my thoughts, looking up Scripture verses, painting page borders, and using my Prismacolor pencils on the beautiful vintage artwork.

I color in it as part of my quiet time in the early morning or while listening to music or audiobooks. It covers prophesies pertaining to Jesus’s birth, death & resurrection, miracles He performed during His earthly ministry, events of the passion week, His faithful promises, and more. I designed the journal for Easter, but it can be enjoyed all year long, as several reviewers rightly noted.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

I finished re-reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits on our 15-hour flight to Korea last month. This book’s subtitle says it all: “Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.”

It was both a fascinating and motivating read and got me thinking of all sorts of tiny changes I might make to better my life. I made several such changes after reading the book the first time, and the success I enjoyed as a result prompted me to make other tiny changes, as well.

Those tiny, incremental changes really add up….But those are a story for another day!

Bless This Home by Shanna D. Gregor

Shanna Gregor’s Bless This Home is another book I read on the plane (it was a really long flight and a very short book). Subtitled Creating a Place of Love and Warmth, this slim volume contains lots of verses, quotes, and short vignettes about home, family, hospitality, and the like.

Although there was nothing particularly profound in its pages, it was still an enjoyable read and stirred up many sweet memories of my own childhood and of the homes my husband and I have shared through nearly 40 years of marriage.

It isn’t a must-read by any stretch of the imagination, but it might make a nice hostess gift alongside some flowers or a potted plant.

Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham

I listened to Voddie Baucham’s audiobook, Family Driven Faith, on our flight home from Korea. It was an encouraging read.

Given that the vast majority of Christian teens (75-88%) abandon their faith during their first year at college, the author examines a question many believing parents may be wondering: What (if anything) can we do to help equip our kids to stand strong in the faith once they leave home?

In Family Driven Faith, Baucham shares several practices that the LORD used to transform his own family in hopes they’ll prove helpful to other parents, as well. Of course, we know God alone can make faith grow, but wise parents will use their time with children at home to cultivate soil, plant seeds, water regularly, and pray continually with an eye on the coming harvest.

Make Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven

This book is an expansion on a commencement address the author gave at the University of Texas several years ago that subsequently went viral.

In both the book and the graduation speech, he shares 10 lessons he learned during Navy SEAL training that have served him well, not just in the military, but also in civilian life.

In fact, the lessons have a universal appeal, which explains how this short book managed to claim the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. When I looked up the link for Make Your Bed , I realized McRaven has published several other similar titles. I enjoyed this first one enough that I will likely read some of the others, as well.

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