God in the Yard: Spiritual Practice for the Rest of Us

by L.L. Barkat

Through days and nights of L.L. Barkat's year of daily outdoor solitude comes an irresistible voice calling you to spiritual practice. This 12-week course tells a unique story, but it will also invite you to personal growth. You'll find various options for discovery and free writing, writing response, physical and mental play, and blogging (or alternatives).

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Christianity

174 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2010

About the author

Former Contributor at The Huffington Post blog. Managing Editor of Tweetspeak Poetry. Poetry has appeared at VQR, Best American Poetry, NPR, and on the BBC.

Loves tea, chocolate, Neruda, and the golden hour over the Hudson river.

Reviews

[Tim]

No drudgery or perfectionism in discipline here. The book is part memoir, part writing guide, and part spiritual direction that equates spiritual practice with playfulness. Barkat begins with the discipline of spending at least fifteen quiet minutes in her backyard every day for a year, rain or cold. From there she uses the particulars of her life (including a harsh childhood) and of her yard to ask larger questions for the reader to ponder. Poetry, psychology, nature, and Scripture conspire to get you to consider your own life and to write about it. She is not insistent or demanding, makes no effort to be complete on each practice she addresses. Instead she makes offerings and her offerings are fruitful.

[Amy]

Wise and kind and helpful. A tone of freedom and encouragement. I'm rereading it now to follow the writing prompts, and a couple of chapters in, I'm finding it keeps getting better as I engage more with the content.

[Denise]

See my review at Englewood Review of Books http://erb.kingdomnow.org/featured-go...