The World That Woke Me Up

There are some books you enjoy.

There are others that entertain you.

And then, every so often, you stumble upon a story that quietly rearranges the furniture of your soul.

For me, the Emma M. Lion series has become that kind of story.

I have just finished reading the series for the second time, and I find myself grieving—not because the story has ended, but because it awakened a world I can almost touch.

A world I suddenly realize I have been searching for all my life.

It is a world of discovery.

Of beauty.

Of wonder.

Of language that is meant to be savored rather than consumed. The language of Latin, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Tennyson. Expanding your vocabulary to include words like equanimity, vicissitudes, and bloviated pomposity (What? What? What?)

I want to speak phrases like, “A ribbon of road,” “A smile walked onto my face,” or “Picking a fight with anger, trying to wear it out.” Phrases that speak volumes because the perfect words are intentionally chosen.

Give me more. I open my heart to receive the language of life, to communicate and drink it all in, to truly observe, respond, and interact. I no longer crave such facile tastes after feasting on a banquet of delight. I want this world.

A world where tea is more than a beverage—it is hospitality. Where conversations linger. Where clothing is worn with intention. Where nature is explored with childlike delight, awe, and wonder. Where books are companions, not content. Where friendship becomes one of God’s most beautiful gifts.

It is difficult to explain why these books have affected me so deeply.

It isn’t because I long to live in another century.

Every age has its own beauty as well as brokenness.

What I long for is something much older than Victorian England.

I long for a way of being human that refuses to hurry past beauty.

As I read, I found myself asking a question I hadn’t expected:

Could this world exist here?

Not as nostalgia.

Not as escapism.

But as a culture we intentionally cultivate.

The characters themselves have become companions on the journey.

Hawks has taught me about quiet strength, sacrifice, poetry, and steadfast love. His mysterious manner and love for words, and, more importantly, his ability to know the right word at the right time, rekindled intentionality and wonder.

Islington has awakened a longing for freedom—the kind that invites people into beauty, curiosity, and delight without demanding they earn their place. His love is protective, solid, watchful, and able to carry those he loves.

Pierce has shown me the ministry of faithful presence, reminding me that love often looks like simply refusing to let someone walk through grief alone.

And then there is Emma…

How do you describe someone who feels less like a character and more like an invitation?

Emma is wonderfully, unapologetically alive.

She is intelligent without becoming cynical. Curious without becoming naïve. Spirited without becoming reckless. She possesses that rare combination of childlike wonder and profound wisdom that makes you believe both can exist in the same soul.

She notices what others overlook.

She asks the questions everyone else is afraid to ask.

She laughs at the sideways humor of life, grieves deeply, delights wholeheartedly, and somehow manages to remain entirely herself whether she’s standing in a drawing room filled with nobility or running wild through the countryside.

She stumbles. She misreads situations. She “chews on her foot” more often than she’d like. Yet even her mistakes become part of her charm because they are never hidden behind pretense.

Emma doesn’t captivate people because she is flawless.

She captivates them because she is free.

Perhaps that is what I love most about her.

She quietly gives us permission to stop performing and begin living.

To become curious again.

To delight again.

To wonder again.

To become fully ourselves.

In a world that constantly teaches us to become more polished, more impressive, more acceptable, Emma reminds us that the most beautiful thing we can become is simply who we were always created to be.

As I reflected on why these friendships move me so deeply, I realized they mirror something even greater.

Alchemy

Hawks defines alchemy as “that mythical pursuit that turns disparate elements to gold.”

Each one reveals a different aspect of the God I am continually learning to know.

The quiet, all-knowing strength. Otherworldly wonder.

The steadfast protector. His table is always set.

The faithful companion. The living, bleeding, vulnerable, and present sojourner.

The whole, real, authentic, unapologetic, and fully alive embodiment of humanity.

No single person can fully reflect the heart of God, yet together they have given language to aspects of His character that my own heart has struggled to recognize.

Perhaps that is one reason the friendships in this series feel so healing.

They remind us that we were never meant to journey alone.

What surprised me most, however, wasn’t the story itself.

It was what the story awakened within me.

Some books make you admire the characters.

These books made me remember myself.

Or perhaps more accurately…

…they reminded me of the woman God has always been inviting me to become.

They awakened a longing to cultivate beauty rather than merely consume it.

To speak words worth lingering over.

To slow down enough to notice wildflowers.

To invite people around a table.

To read aloud.

To laugh more.

To wander without an agenda.

To delight in ordinary things until they become extraordinary.

They reminded me that wonder is not childish.

It is one of the purest forms of worship.

For those who have followed my writing for a while, you’ll recognize why this series has resonated so deeply.

Much of what God has been teaching me over the past year has been about abiding instead of striving, receiving instead of producing, becoming a reservoir instead of endlessly turning the wheel of performance.

Without realizing it, these books placed flesh and bone on those longings.

They painted pictures of the kind of atmosphere my soul has quietly been trying to describe.

The more I read, the more I realized something surprising.

Our vision of Bramhaven has never simply been about an estate.

It has always been about creating a place where beauty slows us down long enough to remember who we are.

A place where conversation matters.

Where friendship is treasured.

Where creation is explored with curiosity.

Where children are free to wonder.

Where weary souls lay down their burdens.

Where God feels as present around the table as He does in the sanctuary.

That is the world these books awakened in me.

And perhaps that is why I already know they will become lifelong companions.

Not because I want to escape this world.

But because they have made me want to cultivate more beauty within it.

I suspect many of us carry this same hunger, even if we struggle to name it.

A hunger for places where we are fully known.

For friendships marked by loyalty and grace.

For conversations that nourish rather than deplete.

For homes that feel like refuge.

For beauty that lifts our eyes beyond ourselves.

For wonder that has not been hurried away by efficiency.

Maybe that longing isn’t something to suppress.

Maybe it is a compass.

Maybe it is pointing us toward the Kingdom—a place where beauty, friendship, delight, and belonging have always been at home.

If a story can awaken that hunger, then perhaps it has done something far more important than entertain us.

Perhaps it has reminded us what our souls have been searching for all along.

So, to the author who created this remarkable world, Mrs. Beth Brower—thank you.

Thank you for reminding me that wonder still exists.

Thank you for creating characters who have become trusted companions.

Thank you for writing a story that doesn’t merely invite us to turn another page, but quietly invites us to become more fully alive.

Those are the rarest stories of all.

In everything you do -eat, play, and love- may it always be Seasoned with Joy!

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The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (more to come)

I have enJOYed the audible version of these books immensely!

Shout out to my EmmaLionesk daughter, Ashley, for her superior taste and recommendation of said books!