“My life has value because God has touched every mundane moment with the glow of holiness. It matters. It all matters”
Micha Boyett in Found
You know a book is good when at 5 am after you’ve put your baby back to sleep for the third time that night you stay up a little longer to just read a few pages of your book. I loved the selection this week, Found by Micha Boyett. It resonated with the deepest parts of me. Her longing to discover God and uncover her ability to pray in the midst of diapers and late nights is something I’m living right now. Her knowledge of grace but inability to accept it is something I think many of us struggle with. Her struggle to find value and purpose in the midst of daily life was one I have lived so often.
Her search to find prayer through Benedictine spirituality is not unlike my desire to reconnect with a lost part of myself through this 52/52 series. When you are in the trenches, fighting a daily battle with laundry and diapers, dishes and dirt it is easy to disconnect from the spiritual and live entirely in the material. When I began this project I thought it was to engage my brain but I have found my heart has been opened and I’m really finding myself again, the self I tucked away when I left ministry 5 years ago to be with my son. Reading this book helped me see how important this is. I was wondering why I was doing it, after all it seems rather selfish to be reading and reflecting entirely for my own benefit but it isn’t about acquiring knowledge so much as engaging that connection with my spiritual self and with God.
After I finished this book I found myself a little sad. I loved her voice and wanted to read more so I went on the internet, googled her name and found her blog. I’m happy to say I’ve enjoyed her blogs as much as her book and recommend both highly. If you want an engaging story of one woman’s quest to find God, grace and all good things, this is the book for you. I’d lend you my copy but it’s filled with notes and stars so you probably want your own…
This week’s book is called Listening for the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality by J. Philip Newell. I’m halfway through already and love it so far. I’ve also picked up his book Celtic Prayers from Iona which is an aid for daily prayer and over the last few days have found my morning and evening prayer times have been more focused and fruitful. I’m looking forward to discussing both books next week.
***Full disclosure moment. I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher to review. These are my feelings about the book entirely and I have not been influenced in the writing of this review by outside sources. I am grateful to them for letting me read this book and reflect on it this past week. ***
