This is an odd little book. It's got some advice that's brilliant, and some that just seems odd. It was published in 1979 and kind of shows its age, especially with the funny little line drawings that look like country-style Precious Moments kids.
But . . . hm. It's a combination of personal experience essays, poems (sort of), Bible verses and (the best part) example prayers.
I do like the example prayers. There are a couple of pages that read like a litany, just going through and praying for your children in a bunch of different areas, like maturity and salvation and health. It also talks about praying through family curses, which is something you don't read much about these days. The way they talk about it seems kind of funny to me, but I've lived where curses were very much in evidence, and if such things aren't as obvious in the States, well . . . things don't stop existing just because we aren't looking for them (or at them).
This little book was obviously a labor of much love, produced by a single little Baptist church, and it's good-hearted, written by a bunch of women who just wanted to share what they'd learned through their experience of praying for their children. The idea of praying for your children often, specifically and with faith is one I can heartily endorse, so I appreciate this book, even if some of the content and more of the style strikes me as a bit odd.
More on the 15 books in 15 days project can be found at GirlDectective.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell
p.s. I'm reading a couple of shorter things during this part of the challenge so that I can (hopefully) give myself time to get through a couple of the thicker books on my list. My biggest hope? That I can plow through Aristotle's "Ethics" before the challenge is over. There. I admitted it. Now hopefully I'll feel myself bound to do it.
2 comments:
You are picking some fascinating little books, and are also good about ferreting out what is good about them, and not focusing overmuch on their flaws; these are kind reviews.
Aristotle? Good luck, but read what you like! If it's Aristotle, that's very cool.
Thanks! I know a lot of what I write will sound odd in thirty years, and I'd hate for someone to trash me because I'm so "of the oughts", you know? So I try to return the favor. Retroactively. Or some such thing.
Plus, it's fun to read things that are odd. It gets me out of my own POV. I like seeing how people, even people relatively close to me in time and and geography and religious conviction, can be so different in how they express themselves. Humans are odd. Odd, but fascinating.
As to Aristotle . . . I do like him. At least, I liked the Ethics back when I read it in college. I was in a great books program, and all my friends were going nuts over Plato, but when we got to Aristotle, I felt like I'd found my guy. He's so delightfully practical. Love it. (I think my friends who liked Plato were "P's" on the Myers-Briggs, and that Aristotle is the man for the "J's".)
But much as I like him, Aristotle's a lot of work to get through, so using this challenge to push myself through the Ethics again sounds like a good idea.
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