Hard Is Not the Same Thing as Bad

“Hard Is Not the Same Thing as Bad: the perspective shift that could completely change the way you mother” by Abbie Halberstadt

Book #6 for 2026

Another read-along with my friend MM. We met up for iced lavender cream chai teas to discuss chapters 1-7, chapters 8-11, and chapters 12-14.

This was a great book and I really enjoyed it. I loved how much scripture the author incorporated into each chapter. Her anecdotes were both humorous and relatable. Her writing style was conversational and well-organized. The end of each chapter included Bible verses to memorize and meditate on as well as discussion questions.

“This is not primarily a book about suffering but about the common knee-jerk tendency to slap a negative label on any form of adversity right before we sprint away from it as if a grizzly bear is hot on our trail. (Or, if that’s too much effort, we numb ourselves to it with wine and reality TV.)” page 22

The author also includes a chapter titled “Hard Is Not the Same Thing as Good” and says, “There’s nothing in the Beatitudes about “blessed are those who grit their teeth the hardest through the most frustrating or fruitless situations, for theirs is the biggest martyr trophy.” page 127

“Trying to keep everyone happy at once (as opposed to honoring God and tending to our families first) is hard and not good.” page 131

Here’s one last quote from one of the last chapters about teenagers: “… Hebrews 12:11, which says, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Interestingly, the Greek word for discipline in this verse is paideia, which has the idea of “training” or even “rearing a child” (because it’s a verse about how God discipline his children). In other words, raising children should be hard and sometimes painful work for both us and our kids, and we should expect to encounter some struggles as we look forward to the “peaceful fruit of righteousness.” page 212

📚 How’s your summer reading going?

❤️ Have you read anything really great lately?