You are not a machine.

You don't crank out work, you don't recharge and adjust.

You don't process things.

You are more like a tree.

You need different things on different days. a little sun today, a little less

water tomorrow. You have deep roots, a hidden history that makes you who you are. You're not

productive all the time. You have fallow and fruitful seasons. You are a miraculous creation with more resilience pulsing through your roots than you know.

Hello, friends, and welcome to Speaking with Joy, a podcast to fill your soul, challenge your mind, and make you brave. I am your host, Joy Marie Clarkson, and it has been

a very long time since I have regularly hosted this podcast.

So if you're new to the podcast, welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. And if you are a long

time listener, I am so excited to be back. Today, I'm joining you to share about my new book. You

are a tree, so the unusual opening is a bit of

something inspired by the book, which dwells on the metaphors we use to describe our lives.

And I want to share with you about the book and about the podcast series that I have in store

for the next few months.

But I also wanted to give you a little update on life and what I've been up to in the last year.

So I was looking, and the last time I really hosted one of these podcasts, I did a very fun series of

podcast with my lovely friend Elena Treba, which you can go and listen to that. It's called

Elena and Joy. That's over on her channel. But the last time I really recorded an episode here was

last May with Claire Carlyle on the marriage question. And I have not been as active on here

because life has been busy and full in a very happy and good way.

So I thought I'd fill you in on kind of a few things that have been happening in my life.

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