Note the small size of book, evidenced by nub

My lovely, thoughtful sister in law and friend Kerry bought me two small leather books for Christmas. This one (a combo: Andrew Murray and Brother Lawrence) and all 3 parts of the Westminster Confession of Faith. I have been using the Andrew Murray book as a devotional periodically since Christmas (by periodically I mean about 7 times).

I struggle to have time alone with the LORD. Some call it a quiet time, others a devotional time, and at Riverside it is “Solitude with God” as a spiritual practice/reality. I need many kinds of devotionals apparently, I like an intellectual edge, and I hope for something really practical too.

Murray’s book, “With Christ in the School of Prayer” sounds anything but sexy on its own merit – but I want every one of those prepositions, I really do. And, the book is small and leather. Furthermore, I am leading a men’s study and Andrew Murray’s words resound with it in a way that really encourages my heart.  Specifically, he states that prayer must flow from a deep knowledge of the Father Heart of God.  “We thought of new and deeper insight into some of the mysteries of the prayer-world as what we should get in Christ’s school; He tells us the first is the highest lesson; we must learn to say well, ‘Abba, Father!’…  He that can say this is the key to all prayer.”

His book is based upon Jesus’ teachings on prayer (so I usually learn something).  His wording is funny (thee’s and such) which makes me focus.  And he prays at the end, so I am learning then learning by doing.  What about you?  I assume your solitude/quite time/devotional time has gone up and down (I actually assume this even if you are not a Christian – that your time alone is important, and that it has come and gone with varying seasons).  What has aided you?  What have you tried that has not ‘worked’ at all.

Clearly, I am having trouble blogging in 2011. Part of the reason is that I actually cannot nail down a particular topic, or structure to help me with the number of things I would enjoy writing about.

Last night we had dinner with two other couples and both members of one couple have read Jonathan Franzen. She has read Freedom and The Corrections and he is reading the 27th City. This kind of interaction forces me to go into crazy-dork mode. I used to be in a book club, and apparently need that outlet!

I loved Freedom. One of my outgoing email signatures is a quote from it that (I think) represents Franzen’s abilities well. “Walter hated cats. They seemed to him the sociopaths of the pet world”. Freedom is very graphic, doesn’t shy away from the potential dark sides of suburban life, and his sentences are long (so are Hemingway’s and the Apostle Paul’s, especially if you’re reading Ephesians). You can probably tell where I stand on that one.

Here is the question I want to ask about Freedom and about books. How much does your gender matter in your enjoyment (or lack) of a book? I like Nick Hornby too, and in my limited experience women think he is fine and men think he is hilarious. This is in line with my experience last night talking Freedom. What is your own experience? Obviously, the softball answer is with TV and movies – clearly there are some differences of opinion genderly-speaking when discussing action movies, romantic comedies, Grey’s Anatomy (which I am ashamed to say I watch), and others. Thoughts? Discuss…

Freedom is also a brilliant portrayal of the destruction humans are capable of when we buy into the paramount cultural virtue of autonomy. 🙂