As I was reading The Return of the Prodigal Son earlier this summer, my husband was reading this book of prayers by Nouwen. there were a couple of mornings when he’d read something aloud to me and I knew this would be my next contemplative nonfiction pick. I had to force myself to go slowly through this because each of the prayers is only a page or two long. It would have been easy to zip through this without giving it a whole lot of thought. Instead, I read only 1-2 prayers per day, often reading them more than once and letting the author’s words simmer in my soul.

Nouwen is one of my favorite writers of spiritual nonfiction. His work is self-revealing and reflective. He takes a hard look at himself, his faults, his failures, his insecurities, and then always points himself back to being beloved by God. I always find myself relating to his doubts and questions, inspired by his conclusions, and challenged by his prayers.

I used to be so intimidated by C.S. Lewis, not his Chronicles of Narnia, of course, but the Space trilogy and anything more, let’s say, academic. But a few years ago I read, A Grief Observed, and last year I picked up The Problem of Pain for about the 10th time (never finishing it before) and it finally worked for me. Somehow I waded through and saw the gems hidden inside. Reflections on the Psalms was the same.

A.J. Swoboda is one of my favorite modern theologians. Every time I pick up one of his books, I’m both challenged and inspired. He hasn’t missed yet, and A Teachable Spirit was no exception.

This was a worthwhile read. It had been sitting on my shelf for the last 10 years (since graduate school where it was on a “further reading” list for a theology course).

This book is all about apprenticeship and formation in the Way of Jesus. The author makes a claim that I agree with: all of us are being formed and if we aren’t intentional about what those influences are, we may be shaped in ways we never desired.

A slim volume of encouragement, Take What You Need, combines some of the concepts in Kolber’s other works (Try Softer and Strong Like Water) into a short, poetic, and reflective read.

Jeff opens this book up by explaining that storytelling in other cultures is less linear and interconnected than Westerners like to imagine. What follows is a memoir of his experience at Princeton Theological Seminary, particularly with The Farminary Project where theology and farming meet.