Winter 2024: Perspective

The Bookery founder unpacks our Winter 2023 theme as we seek to focus on what’s most important at the start of the new year. 

We’ve welcomed a brand new year, so now it’s time to welcome a new seasonal theme here at The Bookery. Over the next few months, we’ll be exploring the theme of perspective, and recently sat down with our founder, Mandy Crow, to discover what that’s all about!

Perspective can mean a lot of different things. Tell us more about the theme.

Early last fall, I took some time to focus, plan and pray about The Bookery. One part of that planning was to outline our editorial calendar for the upcoming year (which you can glance over here). As far as perspective, it’s the start of a new year, which often symbolizes a fresh start or clean slate for a lot of us. So much of the time, we focus on goal setting or resolutions this time of year, but for me, I’ve discovered often that what I need most at the start of a new year is a shift in perspective. The end of the year gets really busy with so many great things, but I can get distracted and overwhelmed in all of the busyness. The start of a new year is a chance to push pause, refocus and really pay attention to what’s most important: cultivating a deep, growing relationship with God and investing in relationships. 

Even with an Advent reading plan, the days leading up to the holiday season can easily become more about completing a checklist and making sure everything is taken care of, and I tend to lose focus and go through the motions. January and February offer a hard reset and a chance to get out of the checklist mentality and invest in my relationships with God and others with intentionality. So those are some of the ideas we’ll be exploring here during this season. 

What types of content can members of The Bookery community expect from this theme? 

Last year, we introduced seasonal reading lists that accompanied each editorial theme, and our readers seemed to really like them. We’ll be continuing those in 2024, and, of course, you’re going to get all your favorites: book reviews, recipes, articles that help you dig deeper into Scripture. We’re also hoping for articles that explore prayer—What shifts your perspective more than prayer?—unpacking what it means to renew your mind (Rom. 12:2) and exploring books that challenge and change our perspective for the better. 

It’s a new year! Are there any new things readers can expect here at The Bookery? 

We’re always dreaming up new things to try here at The Bookery! We’re currently working on our 2024 Lent reading plan, which will focus on the Psalm of Ascent, and writing content for the new year. We’re going to have recipes, book reviews and favorites like “Behind the Story” and Cookbook Chronicles (we’ll be talking more about the cookbook we’re using this year very soon). We’re also tossing around ideas like creating The Bookery Cookbook or starting a book club. So, if any of that sounds like something you’d enjoy, be sure to let us know! 

What would you like us to explore around the theme of perspective (or any of our 2024 editorial themes)? Let us know in the comments.