Sitting on her bed, alone in her house, our heroine writes:

I don't usually enjoy books written by American Christians. It's a personal thing... because I like dealing in ideas, I find the glut of illustrative stories unecessary and premature. And I don't warm to the chatty, familiar writing style. And I get frustrated when pastoral books feel the need to bolster what is essentially practical wisdom by amassing biblical quotes, which are often only very thinly related to the point in question.

BUT I recently read an excellent book that rises clear of such criticism. It's Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture by Adam S. McHugh. I can't recommend it enough. It's brilliant for introverts to read because it helps us to understand how we tick and how we can best function and serve. And it's, um, brilliant for extroverts to read because it helps them understand the strange being that is the introvert.

Until reading this book I hadn't realised just how much of an introvert I am. A friend called me "charismatic" the other day and while the label does sound a little extreme, I think he's right. I'm passionate, optimistic and often exuberant. In certain situations I have excellent social skills. But in basically every other way I'm a big-time introvert. So I used to regard myself as a mix of introversion and extroversion.

The trouble with this was that when I lived in Sydney I felt uncomfortable and socially inept in pretty much every social situation, and because I knew I was capable of better I felt like I was doing something wrong. But now that I've come to see that I'm basically an introvert (with charisma), I can cut myself a lot of slack. Of course I'm going to be a bit of a dud when I'm part of a group of people and I have to decide who to talk to and what to talk about. Of course I'm going to find it hard to get to know my local shopkeeper. I still need to have a crack at it all, but I don't need to force myself and I certainly don't need to beat myself up when I have an awkward moment. *phew*

I might have a glance through the book and do another post about introversion. Actually, on second thought, I won't - I'd basically be quoting the whole book. Just go and read it!*


*Except I would personally give chapter 4 'Introverted Spirituality' a miss (apart from pages 80-81), and would only skim-read chapter 9 'Introverts in Church'.