Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions (Plus)

I may be writing this review a little prematurely, as I am only halfway through this book, however...I have already purchased additional copies for my friends. I have underlined, dog-earred and referred to various pages on several occassions. When the Heart Waits gives valuable insight into mid-life. It shares information as to the benefits gained in "being still". Waiting is not "doing nothing". It is both "passive and passionate". As many of us struggle with "what should I do next", often trying to make something happen. Sue Monk Kidd reminds us that everything is always taken care of, if we just stop pushing so hard. She talks about a caterpillar and her cocoon. If someone pokes a hole in the cocoon before it's time, the butterfly will emerge with un-developed wings, unable to fly. Take time with yourself and you WILL be able to fly!

I recommend this book highly to anyone going through a time of change. My husband is a chemo patient and my life for eight months has been directed to helping him deal with constant side effects, so my role is changing. I found Ms. Kidd's quotations thoughtful, and they introduced me to spiritual teachers I want to read more of.
I highlighted constantly throughout the entire book, a sure sign that it engaged me fully.

A must read for anyone on a spiritual journey. My mother was my spiritual mentor and Sue Monk Kind reminds me of her. She gives a very personal account of her journey which I can so identify with. Read it slowly, meditate and contemplate on what you're reading. A definite vitality boost.

A deep yet practical, poignant and coherent book. For those in a time of transition or a time of waiting - any time in which one feels a bit lost as to how proceed. It's not a how-to-proceed book, but one that verbalizes feelings we didn't even have words for... just the fact that there are words that describe them bring a sense of expectancy. Then it goes beyond that to help you welcome the inner changes. Not for everyone but for those who are ready.

Wonderful book and highly valuable for use in the counselling forum.

I suggest that it be read in small bites...not an ongoing novel but rather each page contains insights and wisdom that need to be reflected on and absorbed.

Sue Monk Kidd has provided a guide for women of all ages...some of which I have already shared with my young grandaughters.

Highly recommended for both personal and professional use.

I bought this book, because I am working towards becoming a better version of myself. More specifically, I know that spirituality is an important aspect of attaining happiness and growth for humans, and this text is on Brene Borwn's recommended reading list. I am not religious, but I am seeking ways to be more spiritual. This book is not what I am looking for, as it is very religion-oriented. The introduction talks about walking a path with God and Jesus, and I know I don't want to keep reading. I will keep searching for books on spirituality that are not necessarily religious.

This book is pre-BEES and MERMAID CHAIR. Sue Monk Kidd has an aggressive searching spirit, and the book shows a writing talent that was finally discovered in BEES. Her mid-life verbalizing is detailed and specific. However, her answers need to be examined before they are applied to your own life.

This book was a balm for my wounded forty-something soul, I have to tell y'all. I felt as if I've been stuck in a vortex since my youngest child graduated from college, got married and flew the coop a few years ago. All my life I thought I was looking forward to the day when my two daughters were grown so I could be 'free'. I'd heard of empty nest, of course, and poo-pooed it thinking it happened to women who had no lives but their children's....NOT! I still feel slightly lost, wounded and confused, but much better after reading this book. And the loss of your children is, indeed, a wound. They're alive and kicking, but gone nonetheless....and there's an emptiness there that you're not quite sure how to fill. This book gives you permission (and encourages you) to just sit and wait out this life passage. Thanks, Ms. Kidd, for your wonderful, beautifully written book. I encourge all of my mid-life age friends to read it.

I bought this book and Dissident daughter for my wife who absolutely loved "Life of Bees" and one other fictional story by Sue Monk Kidd . She was disappointed. Dont get Sue Monks Kidds spiritual or inspirational books based on your opinion of her well written fictional stories. It's like two completely different authors. My wife didn't even finish the Dissident Daughter.

Although I was familiar with Sue Monk Kidd's fiction, this was my first experience with one of her nonfiction works. I bought it a Friends of the Library sale and knew I was going to like it when I saw the subtitle, Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions.

Struggling for answers to many of life's difficult questions, Kidd studied the work of some of my favorite writers including Scott Peck, Carl Jung, Thomas Merton, and Joseph Campbell and quotes them in her book. She also cites numerous Biblical stories and their main characters. I knew that courage was a frequent theme in the Bible, but until reading this book, I had not really noticed how often patience and waiting are stressed. We want what we want and we want it now! But as Kidd points out, there was a lot of waiting going on in those days. For starters, just look at Sarai, Jacob, Hannah, and the Prodigal's father.

While the book is filled with reflections from psychology, philosophy, and religion, Sue Monk Kidd also includes her friends, children, and childhood books such as Chicken Little and The Little Red Hen. About the latter, I chuckled as I recalled times in my life when I was the perfect little hard working, sacrificing, giving little hen. Most women can identify with this duty-bound chick and with Kidd's statement that within each Little Red Hen something is seething.

If you're looking for a smooth-reading, thought-provoking book to accompany your soul searching and seeking (for truth), give this one a chance.

First: it would be very helpful if this book were in kindle form. It is too good not to be.

I read this book recently for a Spiritual Direction Program I am studing in. I would have never known about it otherwise and what a treasure it is! Here is the short book review I wrote for my class.

Summary: Sue Monk Kidd uses her own mid-life soul’s journey she calls “the cocoon” to help others mid-life darkness, pain, or a spiritually deserts. Her vulnerable style and her creative gifting of using images from classic literature, nature, and her own stories illustrate which voices kept her “True Self” in deep hiding. She points out that Christendom often focuses more on saving souls then tending to them. She explains the importance of “waiting” and “abiding” for connection to God’s presence to be felt and to bring needed change and emergence out of the cocoon. She defines “darkness” as a place that God can be with us. She beautifully defines what God’s presence looks like in seasons of pain. Change has it’s relational challenges, which she also addresses. I think her story provides a strong message to Spiritual Directors in how they will help the lives of their directees through the cocoon and into change.

Critique: This book may be hard for those under age 40 to relate to unless they have had a degree of life experiences that is unusual for their age.

I've now turned to this book twice, after reading it over a year ago, I've picked it up once more. I find it comforting to remember that sometimes it is best to be still long enough to decide if your discomfort is really what you think it is all about, or perhaps you are running, fretting, dreading, regretting... the wrong things entirely -- or you are unclear about why you are running, fretting, dreading, regretting... anyway, it is a helpful book if you are needing some reassurance that your discomforts are normal, universal, survivable, and even beneficial!

A friend recommended this book at the right juncture in my spiritual journey. As I read, I felt as though I were invited in to watch a very real & authentic transformation take place not only in her life but my own as well.

I actually still have the last chapter to go, but I need to write this now. This book has moved me and touched me and spoke to me in just amazing ways. Several times I have had to put it down to catch my breath or wipe my tears or just be still with what I just read. It's unfair to say too much. It's a book to be experienced. If the title or the description appeals to you, by all means read it. The Divine has spoken through Sue Monk Kidd with a message for us all, and for women in particular. What a gift! Thank you.

A balance of spiritual principle and personal experience give the reader powerful insights. Teaching us the value of listening, willingness and attentiveness and how those qualities support us on the spiritual journey. I highly recommend this book for anyone on the spiritual path.

Have you ever read a hiking guide full of lyrical passages about sombre woods, majestic views and pretty flowers, but when you did the actual hike its useless? The writer neglected to tell you to fill up at the last water point before 3 miles of strenuous climbing up a hill in the sun. The writer mentioned flowers but not the misleading switchback that will get you off trail. Later your realize that the hiking "guide" was never written for people who actually go out and hike the trail, it was written for "armchair hikers", people who like to read about and imagine themselves on the trail.

When the Heart Waits is like one of those hiking guides. It is useless for anyone who is actually going through a spiritual crisis. It might be fun reading for a spiritual voyeur, someone who'd like to imagine the dark night of the soul without going through it, but it is not useful.

The entire narrative points forward to some momentous event that is going to resolve the author's spiritual crisis but nothing particularly happens and one day the author wakes up and feels better. It is not clear why. Maybe her anti-depressants kicked in. Maybe it was spring and her SAD went into remission. At that point the reader doesn't care anymore.

Instead I recommend The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God and The Journey of Desire : The Participant's Guide. Admittedly neither books focuses only on spiritual crisis but on the other hand they do map out a narrative of spiritual journey that includes spiritual crises and they write for people actually on spiritual journeys.

One reviewer suggested that those who do not self identify as Christians would not identify with this book. As someone who does self identify as a Christian let me assure that non Christians that the author's God is so remote from her narrative that He has no influence on it at all.

Sue Monk Kidd writes of a darkness in her spiritual life which came upon her during middle age. Not having gone through a similar experience, I had a hard time relating to this book. I can only imagine that this would be a valuable tool for someone going through a dark time in their own lives. Her suggestions about waiting for the Lord and resting in Him are valuable for all Christians and her point is well made that we try to make things happen according to our own agenda, instead of joining God in his almighty purpose. This point is also made (more convincingly to me) in the book, "Experiencing God" by Henry Blackaby.

I appreciate all of the heartfelt reviews for this book, however I have found this to be a completely shallow book. The prose is sappy, predictable and tiresome, in my opinion. The work might have been better if edited and written as an article. I cannot fathom how this book reached anyone, but obviously it has. If you are seeking something to comfort, make you think (and think deeply)...I suggest you look elsewhere.

This book astounded me in its seemingly endless stream of cliches and corny metaphors, from Monk Kidd's anthropomorphization of trees ("I studied their bony arms and felt their emptiness, their desperate reach for light and sky"), to her clumsy characterizations of discovering her True Self ("there's a bulb of truth buried in the human soul," "Had my masks gotten stuck to my face?", "Letting go is like crossing a bridge, I thought"). Monk Kidd's spiritual crisis may have been very real to her, but her description of it here strikes me as self-indulgent, sentimental claptrap. Having also read The Mermaid Chair, I would say this author is highly overrated.