On a particularly trying Thursday afternoon, Robert Morris exclaimed in frustration and anger, "O God!" That day Morris realized that his exclamation could be turned into a prayer by taking a second breath, refocusing, and offering the situation to God. This simple situation is the basis for Wrestling with Grace, a book that explores Christian discipleship in the routine moments and ordinary emergencies of life. Wrestling with Grace offers new insights into the daily practice of Christian spirituality. Morris encourages ...
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On a particularly trying Thursday afternoon, Robert Morris exclaimed in frustration and anger, "O God!" That day Morris realized that his exclamation could be turned into a prayer by taking a second breath, refocusing, and offering the situation to God. This simple situation is the basis for Wrestling with Grace, a book that explores Christian discipleship in the routine moments and ordinary emergencies of life. Wrestling with Grace offers new insights into the daily practice of Christian spirituality. Morris encourages readers to gain personal spiritual insight by looking at their first or reactive emotions -- anger, frustration, and sadness. Morris understands these reactive emotions as natural, but he persuades readers to move beyond that first reaction to cultivate a "second breath" prayer. This book takes readers on a personal journey to see the possibilities of grace. By discerning how to overcome obstacles with grace and learning to bless the undesirables in our lives, we open our spirits to deeper joy and love. Some of the obstacles Morris discusses include fear of God, anger directed toward others, depression, sexual enticement, busyness, affluence, and evil. Moving beyond these obstacles, Morris invites readers to let grace work in their lives by loving enemies, forgiving others, acting with justice, dealing with lust, and embracing peace. Writing with touches of humor, Morris offers challenging insights into the spiritual journey. Wrestling with Grace is a "how to" manual about loving yourself, others, the world around you, and God, especially on the "Thursday afternoons" of life, when the going gets tough.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Very Good condition. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included.
This book completely changed the way I see grace. Mr. Morris writes about how to give opportunity for grace to be my motivation in daily life, how to recognize my own attitudes to welcome grace. His emphasis on our being created in the image of God points out our potential for cooperation with expressing God-like qualities. His opening challenge sets the tone for the entire book in asking us to ask ourselves, "what is the state of my spirit". From there he goes forward tp show how our attitudes and choices determine what our individual "spirit" is right now. It can be changed. This is no "How to" book, but rather a revealing of how we can live into a place of reflecting God's love and ways in the hard edges of life. He names qualities we find in ourselves like anger, depression,sexual enticement, busyness, consumerism, our reaction to and or desire for power. All are discussed, faced and put into the perspective of opening oneself to God. His premise is always that God is present at all times for us, in all situations, to guide and change. It is a hope-filled book. The author shows how prayer is so much more than words and that it is part of life day in and day out as we make life circumstances opportunities to open them to the divine. To further enhance the topic of prayer, he has added 10 exercises to turn to for specific times of need. The exercises are very down-to-earth, understandable, and do-able. In the third part of his book, the reader is encouraged by reading about how we can "grow up into God's life". He covers the larger scope of our daily existence, even including how we see the earth and fellow creatures. This part is especially pertinent in view of our new awareness of our poor stewardship of all of creation in the past. A group of us have read this book together and discussed it and practised the exercises. I have heard more than one of the women in the group say ,"I love this book". I re-read it and can say it has changed how I see and live my life.
