Last week, at the AACC world conference, I picked up this book, The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things (2008) by Leighton Ford. This book is different than what I might normally read, though as I regularly perused the books at the IVP booth, this one continued to catch my attention. Eventually, I decided to pick it up. I began reading it on the way home. As I began, I did not really think the book would be a good fit for me and I flatly disagreed with how he interpreted certain passages of scripture (e.g., at one point he writes something akin to "Psalm 51 says that I was conceived in sin, but what I know of my mother, I was conceived in love".) Although his point is taken, it seems as though he was diminishing what David was trying to say in his psalm.
The longer I read though, the more deeply the book drew me in. Ford is capable of stirring prose and engaging narrative. He helps the reader to see the importance of paying attention in several seasons of life. He encourages the reader to see God in the beauty that surrounds us. He establishes this pattern by looking at a monastic approach to daily meditation and prayer and does so quite effectively.
I would recommend this book for anyone who is hoping to be more attentive to their spiritual development and who hopes to see God working in every circumstance.
No comments:
Post a Comment