I haven’t attended mass in 10 years, but I sat in a church at least two or three times in the last year. Old habits die hard, or you realize they don’t have to die at all.
See, my family raised me in the Catholic faith, but those ties started fraying as soon as the Catholic high school uniform came off. I can throw a dart at one of the million reasons why, like how the most devout treat LGBTQIA+ individuals or the pro-life way of life. Still, ultimately, I think the top reason is that I realized I could believe and live my life by a moral code without condemning others in the process. I could choose not to practice religion as it was presented to me but still be spiritual and believe in my God.
That looks like leaning into the comfort of sitting in a church occasionally simply because it reminds me of my mom. All it takes is a mountainscape, a pretty spring day, or someone being generous just because to strengthen my faith.
Knowing that this is how I approach faith, I was pretty surprised when I wanted to dive into TODAY show coanchor Savannah Guthrie’s new book — Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere.
I jumped between the ebook and the audiobook (which is free if you have a Spotify Premium account) and underlined my way through it. The audiobook was a true favorite because, at the end of each chapter, Guthrie includes 30 seconds of meditation music and asks you to self-reflect. This brings me to my one-line review of this book—it’s a book that makes you meditate on your life more than it nails you down for how you practice your religion.
Here are three things I took away from Mostly What God Does.
It’s approachable regardless of your faith
I like reading because it expands my perspective by introducing me to someone else’s. Guthrie’s book does a great job of presenting Bible verses and Christian faith without requiring you to believe everything in order to keep flipping pages.
The book is full of wisdom, and it isn't all the Bible's
The book reads like a collection of personal essays written through Guthrie's faith-driven lens. As a reader, you get just as much from Guthrie's stories in the book as from her Bible references.
If you did grow up in a religion, she may just heal your inner child
In my upbringing, God was introduced to me as probably 80% kindness and love and 20% judgmental father. Over the years, I’ve taken that 20% and rebranded it to arrive at 100% spiritually — a deep belief that the higher powers have my back and are out for my greater good. Throughout Guthrie’s book, she makes it a point to describe God as love and underscores that there is always love for you, no matter how you show up in prayer, faith, or beyond. It was healing to read.