Seasons of a Family's Life: Cultivating the Contemplative Spirit at Home by Wendy M. WrightMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. I found it, really, because I was re-reading Richard Rohlheiser's Domestic Monastery which references a talk by Wendy Wright. That mention intrigued me, so I hunted out her books and was able to find this is one of the theological libraries near me.
This book looks at family life from a contemplative angle which is both genuinely contemplative, but also pretty robust theologically- an unusual combination believe me. Many of the books on family spirituality I've run into tend to get into didactic mode, telling the reader how to do family (meaning, in the way the author does) and never really gives much flexibility to explore and to delight. Wright's book understands contemplation and understands what Christian contemplation is, and genuinely delights in it. It is firmly convinced that we discover the way to God in parenting, but that that path is as individual as the people who tred the path. And that is refreshing.
This is Wright's second book and I fully intend to hunt out her first one. This one spoke to me also because she was at a similar point in parent as I am when she wrote this. That is, she has two children in university and one in high school. I'm a little behind that, but not so far that I don't understand where she is. That helps, but, it isn't necessary because Wright reminisces about all the stages of her parenting life.
This is definitely worth reading- a lovely mix of personal memoir, robust theology and poetic, contemplative spirit.
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