When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions (Plus)

We all have times in our lives when we feel like we are standing at a fork in the path. We feel the need to transform internally; the feeling that only comes with major life transformations. Unfortunately, the transformation requires introspection and growing. We all feel that the growth should happen faster. We often feel anxious, uncertain, and abandoned by God. I mean, we laid our troubles at his feet in prayer. Why do we not have all the answers yet?Sue Monk Kidd offers her perspective to help readers walk through these transformations more spiritually and mindfully.Using the imagery of a butterfly in chrysalis to remind us, “…waiting does provide the time and space necessary for grace to happen.”These kinds of books are so deeply personal to readers, and what resonates with me may not resonate with all readers, so please keep this in mind as you read my thoughts.My Thoughts:As I started this book, I quickly realized I needed 1) a pen 2) a journal, and 3) my Bible. This is one of those books for me that I needed to make notes, both paragraphs in my daily journal and “lightbulb” notes in the margins of this book. I found so much I needed to think through and pray over that the 205 pages of this book took me days to get through, not just the 3 hours or so as I’d initially thought.As Kidd reminded me early in the book, “While it is tempting for me to think that the growth and emergence of my authentic self would happen with little time or effort on my part, that isn’t so. The fullness of one’s soul evolves slowly. We’re asked to go within to gestate the newness God is trying to form; we’re asked to collaborate with grace.”Darnit! This is not the quick-fix, take-a-pill resolution to answering life’s questions I wanted! Fortunately, it was exactly what I needed.Kidd’s writing style is conversational, neither condescending toward her readers or too intellectual to be relatable. She is open and honest about her struggles, showing vulnerability in a way that encourages honesty with self.The lessons I learned in reading this book now will not be the lessons I will learn in the following years as I refer back to this book. I am grateful for the encouragement and introspection provided in these pages.

I love this author and have enjoyed all her books. She is just two years older than I am, so I have identified with the stages of her spiritual journey and have appreciated her honesty about her "dark nights of the soul" and her periods of doubt, anger, and fear.This book was written when Sue Monk Kidd was in her forties, but its lesson is one most of us have to keep learning. She had always been the "good girl," living up to everyone's expectations but chafing inside a prison of her own—and society's—making. It didn't help that she was married to a Southern Baptist minister and was trying to live up to those expectations as well. She felt frozen, stuck, and desperate—as though she had lost her way and her true self at the same time.In the discovery of a cocoon, she finds the analogy she needs to begin working through this unhappy period. She pulls in an impressive body of Christian writings and quotations that helped her realize she was not unique in this experience and certainly not alone.As she begins to identify with the caterpillar inside the cocoon, she stumbles on the importance of being still and waiting—or trusting that God is working in her and for her and trusting that when the time is right (and only then) will her wings unfurl and enable her to fly again.If the analogy seems at times a bit simplistic and pat, the author did a beautiful job of making her case with deeply felt logic and rich references and reminders that there are things in the life of the soul that just can't be rushed."Nothing can be more useful to a man than a determination not to be hurried." (Henry David Thoreau)She recalls a retreat to a monastery, when she asked a monk how he could sit so still and be so patient with doing nothing. "I hope you'll hear what I'm about to tell you," he replied. "I hope you'll hear it all the way down to your toes. When you're waiting, you're not doing nothing. You're doing the most important something there is. You're allowing the your soul to grow up. If you can't be still and wait, you can't become what God created you to be."Wow...I found that very profound. In fact, I found many soul-nourishing insights and have added many authors she quoted to my To Read or To Re-Read list: Thomas Merton, Carl Jung, St. Teresa of Avila, Henri Nouwen, Meister Eckhart and others.Some of the lines I highlighted will give you a better sense of the book's message:"...lots of times we need questions more than answers.""She had come upon the 'epiphany' buried in her crisis."A crisis is a holy summons to cross a threshold.""Jung once pointed out that religion can easily become a defense against an experience of God.""We have within us a deep longing to grow and become a new creature, but we possess an equally strong compulsion to remain the same—to burrow down in our safe, secure places.""If we're to wait, we must relearn the extravagance of grace.""The point of the spiritual life is that you dance the music God pipes in you.""The spiritual journey is one of becoming real."This book was a treasure trove of truth and wisdom. The trick, of course, is learning to apply the lessons in my real life.

Used book with only a few underlines in it. Looked almost new.

Wow - such good words to and for midlife. I hope to grow in the ways she describes. This isn’t a book that could read fast as have to sit with it

A friend gave me this book because she had liked it so much. The title really should indicate that it's about a woman's' midlife crisis that is likely to occur when she reaches 40. The friend who gave it to me is in her 80's and I am in my 60's but I loved it as well and have given it to friend in her 40's. Sue Monk Kidd writes with such honesty as a Christian woman and her use of nature, in this case a cocoon, is beyond compelling. Her quotes from many Christian writers and secular psychologist Jung, and others, make the point she is delivering thought provoking and clear. This book was written quite a few years ago but I am so glad I discovered it. The writer's dark season of the soul is so well portrayed that I could feel her total loss of joy for all that had given her life meaning prior to the sudden fall into such a dark place. Her insight into how God takes one ever deeper if only the person can wait and give up the need to control is ageless. It made another book I'm reading about centering prayer much more understandable.

This is a book about waiting as the title suggests, and is an essential read for anyone who feels that they are waiting on God. Yes, Sue Monk Kidd writes about her waiting resulting from midlife crisis, but the nature of her specific 'wait' is somewhat irrelevent to the message of the book. She explores the concept of a 'call' to wait; that God's purpose for us may require that we spend a period of 'active waiting' in preparation for what is to come. Throughout the book she weaves in the imagery of the caterpillar, who 'waits' cocooned in the darkness of the chrysalis, waiting to become a beautiful butterfly: the glorious embodiment of the 'true self'. But, as you will see, the wait itself becomes almost as important as the unfurling of wings.This is a beautiful read, which I guarantee will enhance your spiritual journeying. If you read this book, Sue Monk Kidd will become a treasured travelling companion on that journey.Odd though this may seem, I thoroughly recommend that you read this alongside 'Hope for the Flowers' by Trina Paulus, a children's book about caterpillars Yellow and Stripe, to which Monk Kidd frequently makes reference.

This is a book that prescribes what you can do when your heart desires are taking long in arriving. With the right attitude, delays can be turned into opportunities. SUCCESS MINDSET: The book that removes the scale from your eyes so you can see the solutions to those problems confronting you now.SUCCESS MINDSET: The book that removes the scale from your eyes so you can see the solutions to those problems confronting you now.

I have really valued this book as there were many echoes with my own spiritual journey so the were affirmations as well as challenges about how I value myself and other people and how I may cope with dark times when 'waiting' is the only option. It is good to seek to accept mystery.

Poor quality.Put it straight in the bin.Company have not responded to my emailExtremely disappointed

This is an absolutely fantastic book. If you are in that soul searching moment wondering what is happening, this book is for you. I was recommended this by a friend and was so glad I got it.