Book Review: How to Have Peace When You're Falling to Pieces

Motherhood .... It's hard. It's really, really hard. Don't believe me? Ask any mother and they will tell you. There is no profession more demanding, more stressful, and more laden with guilt. An ER doctor might come close to rivaling the stress levels, but I think mothers still have the hardest jobs ever.

Why is that? Why is the task of raising cute, cuddly, innocent little children so very hard?

It's because we love them so very much and we understand how important our roles are in their lives.

Author Rebecca Rode's new book How to Have Peace When You're Falling to Pieces addresses some of these aspects of motherhood and offers straightforward and often funny advice for those of us who feel as though we'll never have it all together. In fact, the premise of the book is centered around that very idea - we need to have the right pieces in order to truly become complete. Those pieces are being mothers of purpose, mothers of skill, mothers of work, mothers of faith, mothers of wisdom, mothers of joy, and mothers of peace. That sounds like a pretty tall order, but then the author breaks each of those down and provides anecdotes and solid advice to help us understand and incorporate what she means in each of those categories.

I entered this book with a lot of baggage on my shoulders. I'm at a time in my life when I've had to focus on things that are less eternally important in order to satisfy some earthly demands, and the imbalance has been weighing on me. What this book did for me was remind me that there are certain fundamentals that, once in place, can help a family weather any storm. I also understood more clearly that I have more control than I think I do, and while it might feel that things are swirling around me in a tornado of chaos, I can reach out and grab that wind and subdue it to a more manageable breeze.

I appreciated the mixture of personal stories with gospel quotes and scriptures. When inspirational nonfiction is written this way, it becomes a tool for the reader to use in their own lives. Rebecca sounds like someone who would be a good friend and would share your burdens. The read isn't condescending in the slightest, but has the tone of someone saying, "I know what you're going through because I've been down that road too."

If you're a woman who struggles with feelings of guilt or inadequacy, or even if you just need a reminder of the grand and crucial eternal purposes of motherhood, this book is well worth the read.