Any Barbara Brown Taylor book is excellent. I've been blessed to have taken a class from her. She writes just like she speaks; you feel you're listen to her tell a story or are having a conversation with her. I've read a LOT of spirituality books, especially those on spiritual practices. So I was very pleasantly surprised to learn of more practices....everyday things that are not normally considered spiritual practices. Often I read only a few pages at a time, wanting to savor and ponder what she wrote. I delayed finishing the book because I didn't want it to end. Highly recommend.

This is an inspiring work calling us to become aware of the world. We live in a cosmos, but this earth is all we really know with our own senses. The big scenes, and little scenes, teach us how to see the presence of the Divine in everything. In our own skins, our own senses, we experience this world. There is much to learn from all of nature: we can see and experience mountain ranges and fantastic canyons, and at the same time, we can experience the rocks on the ground, the dirt under out feet, the tiniest of plants and animals. In all of this we are encountering the Divine presence which suffuses all that is.

The book was insightful and quote worthy, but I didn't feel anything profound come from it. This can be because I feel the same as the author on a lot of topics she touched on. I do recommend this book, but don't let it be the only source of information you gather from.

"The last place people look is right under their feet, in the every day activities, accidents and encounters in their lives."

"An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith" - Barbara Brown Taylor

I can't remember the last time I have read a "religious" book that resonated with me so strongly that it moved me to tears right out of the gate. Seriously, I cried twice in the first chapter alone. Maybe it's because I have also walked the lava flows on the Big Island of Hawai'i and felt the same raw power in the earth beneath my feet and the newness of black rock that is younger than I am, that Taylor describes so vividly in the first few pages of that chapter. Maybe it's because throughout the book, the author voices so eloquently feelings that I have harbored for years and I now feel vindicated and no longer alone.

By Taylor's reckoning, even the tiniest, sometimes most inconsequential things in our daily lives can be a source of meditation, introspection and spiritual nourishment in their own way. From learning to love and accept ourselves in our own skin, to embracing and recognizing the simple joys that can be found in physical labor. Even allowing ourselves to find the inner strength that lies deep within the core of each of us when we face physical pain. Chapter by chapter, she leads us by example through the moments of her life where she found reasons to feel reverence and awe in the chaos and quietude of everyday living and encourages us to do the same in each passing day.

This book is a treasure and I highly recommend it to everyone. I know that it is one that I will return to again and again whenever I need to be reminded to stop, take a deep breath and simply allow myself... to Be.

Barbara Brown Taylor has a gift for wrapping profound insights about God and the faith into her own very common, very familiar, very accessible life experiences. If you enjoy analogous learning or just need a refreshing break from your more academic reading list, you'll really relate to her style. Reading Barbara "relaxes your brain" to the point that, when she does come out with a succinct and quotable nugget of wisdom, you almost didn't see it coming. The nuggets I discovered were big ones and came along frequently....answers to mysteries I've not been able to find before from the "altar in my study." Delightful!

I'm a new fan, but a rabid one!