Week 1: Introduction — Tired of Striving

1.Casey opens by confessing that she spent years chasing a picture-perfect life — the right look, the right career, the right image — only to find herself empty. What is your version of that pursuit? What have you been striving after that has left you feeling more depleted than fulfilled?

2.She describes the moment she realized that 'making it happen' on her own terms was actually working against her. Have you had a similar moment of recognition — a point where your own striving clearly wasn't working? What did that feel like?

3.The gardening metaphor is introduced early as the book's central image. What is your instinctive reaction to that metaphor? Does it feel hopeful, frustrating, or something else — and why?

4.Casey is honest that cultivating a good life is slow work and that most of us are not patient people. On a scale of 1–10, how patient are you with slow growth — in your garden, your relationships, your own character? What does your answer reveal?

5.She distinguishes between a 'perfect life' and a 'good life.' In your own words, what is the difference? Which one have you been more focused on building, and why?

6.Casey frames the entire book around grace — the idea that growth is God's work, not just ours. How comfortable are you with receiving grace rather than earning your way forward? Where does that discomfort come from?

7.What do you most hope to discover or change by working through this book? Write down one specific expectation and one specific fear you are bringing into this study.