Book Review: "Spiritual Rhythm" by Mark Buchanan

Recently I've mentioned "Spiritual Rhythm" quite a bit, and I thought that I'd review it here for you so that you have a better idea of what I'm talking about.  Plus, it might help you decide whether or not you might actually want to read it.  I am not being paid in any way to write this review, and these opinions are completely my own.

The first half of "Spiritual Rhythm" gives a detailed look at each "season" of the soul - winter, spring, summer, fall - and explains each one, including with them appropriate responses to each season.  (For reference, a season, according to Buchanan, do not necessarily have anything to do with age but our spiritual state.)  The second half of the book goes into more detail on behaviors and actions that are relevant to each season.

Honestly speaking, I loved this book.  Buchanan writes in a way that's almost poetic yet easily understandable.  The first half of the book was - undoubtedly - my favorite part.  As I read, I found that I could most definitely relate to each season in some way or other, and I think he explains each one in a way that makes sense.  He uses metaphors related to nature, but they weren't so over my head that I couldn't understand them.  His practical applications (or "activities" as he refers to them) were grounded in spiritual and biblical truth and were relevant to the accompanying season.

What I probably loved the most about the book is that there was no point where he lost my attention.  I was never bored while reading the book, and I never had to force myself to pick it up to continue my reading.  With that being said, there were times that I needed to take a break from the book in to mull over the content, particularly the parts that I felt were the most relevant to me at the time.  And I liked that Buchanan took me down that road and made me feel connected to what he had to say.  He gets personal with the reader and invited me to get personal myself as I worked through each season.

The second half was definitely good - I just didn't connect to it in quite as deep a personal way as I did the first half.  However, I think the second half was just as relevant as the first half.  You can't really have one apart from the other - they go hand in hand.

All in all, I thought this book was a fantastic read, one that I would highly recommend.  I have never read a book quite like this one.  I felt that it was original and offered a new, fresh perspective into living the Christian life.  It's insightful and relevant for everyone and a book that I have no doubt I will reference for years to come.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changin'

The weather here in Western Washington has officially changed from mildly cold to borderline frigid.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but for the most part I'm not.  It got to be so cold yesterday that I pulled my winter clothes and accessories out of storage.  I'm pretty sure our highs are in the low 50s.

The best part, though, is that the colors are changing.  Green leaves become red, orange, yellow.  I'm sure I've talked about fall here before (or maybe not - I can't be sure and I'm too lazy to check), but I can't help but talk about it again.  I love fall.  I can't explain why it's my favorite season.  I don't have the words for it.

Maybe it's the weather changing from warm to chilly.  I like cold.  I would much rather be cold than hot.  Hot is definitely not for me.  And, to me, fall is when I get to begin feasting on "cold" activities.  Things like snuggling and reading a book while sipping a mug full of pumpkin spice latte all while sitting in an oversized chair by the fire.  I love things like bonfires and smores.  I love the coziness of fall.  It brings people together.  And I love fall festivities.  Hay rides.  Pumpkin patches.  Costumes.  Turkeys.  Warm chocolate chip cookies.  All of it.  It just enraptures me.

I also love the spiritual connections to fall.  Fall is a time of deadness to me.  Leaves change colors and soon fall off their sources, leaving their trees bare and vulnerable.  It's interesting how fast it happens, too.  Summer is usually so warm and lively, and then it's like we just make a sharp u-turn toward cold and dead.  And I realize this makes me sound crazy, that I actually like...deadness.

But it's not so much that I like it (the deadness) - it's that I can relate to it.

I've been there spiritually.  There have been times in my spiritual life that felt utterly dead, where I'm spiritually stripped to nothing and feel vulnerable with little-to-no activity.  Like the Holy Spirit isn't moving.  Don't get me wrong - I've certainly felt the glory of basking in the sun rays of how he's moving in my life.  But it always seems that the autumn of the heart is more vivid.  I always sense when Jesus is there, but what's hard is sensing he's there but feels like he isn't moving.  Does that make sense?  (Kind of like how the pang of loneliness is much more severe [at the time] than the joy of companionship.  What's worse is that the joy of companionship always makes the following times of loneliness even worse because you know what you're missing.)

It's like that in my spiritual autumn.  I have a harder time coping because I know what my spiritual life could  be like, what it has been.  I can remember just how sweet it was to feel the Spirit move in a way that was unmistakable, which makes the pain of - what seems to be inactivity - even more severe.

The beauty is, though, that it's just a season.  And what do seasons eventually do?  Change.

(Sidenote: A great resource for seasons of the soul is a book called "Spiritual Rhythm" by Mark Buchanan.  I will be reviewing it here soon.)