Reading, Writing & Pondering

  A Mindful Moment: 5-Minute Meditations and Devotions by Irene Kraegel is aimed at teenagers ages 13 and on up. It is a relatively lightweight, small book at about 7.75 inches by 5 1/2 inches and 190 pages long so it could easily fit into a backpack or nightstand to use regularly. A Mindful Moment includes 150 5-Minute Readings. The book starts out with an introduction explaining why Christians should meditate, what it is, how to do it, and how to use this book. Following the introduction are the 150 meditational devotions. Each devotional starts with a Bible verse, then moves on to a short devotional reading, and concludes with a section called, Practice. Practice offers practical ways to put the verse and the reading into action some way in life.  The book concludes withe a section on Mindfulness with information on various ways to meditate and pray using the book and keeping your mind on Christ. There is a also a section of questions and answers which I think is especially...

May It Be So: Forty Days with the Lord's Prayer by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson is a prayer guide of a different sort. This guide combines images and words about and from the Lord's Prayer to give the user a way to find meaning and spiritual clarity through ongoing language with God. May It Be So is different than any other prayer book that I have read before. I especially found the "Before you begin" section helpful. The authors have another similar book that they previously published, but I have not read that one. I like how the authors encourage the reader to consider the book in different ways and to use their creativity to make the best use of it. I found this book helped me to slow down and spend time in the Lord's Prayer differently than I have in the past. After you have been a Christian for a long time and prayed the Lord's Prayer so many times, it is easy to get into a rut. I felt May It Be So encouraged me to be more mindful of what I...