Saturday, September 21, 2013

Review of “God in My Everything” by Ken Shigematsu

It usually takes more than a few decades for a person to realize that busyness is an enemy to godliness. The enjoying of God and glorifying of God now and forever requires purposeful activity in a certain direction. Ken Shigematsu has written a book that helps us redirect our busyness to activity that brings us to deep and lasting satisfaction. He shows us how we can find a way of living that brings enjoyment in God in the midst of ordinary living.

 In a concise way, Ken shows how the monastic traditions enabled a centering of a busy life on God. Then using the analogy of a trellis that supports a plant and provides the structure for bearing fruit, he shows how to establish a framework (roots) for life that enable us to relate, restore and to reach out.

The appendix contains a summary of his “Rules of Life” and those of several others. The reader will be relieved to find that having a “Rule of Life” is not necessarily complicated, and the examples have great variety depending on the personality and gifts of the person creating his own “Rule for Life”. Mature Christians familiar with Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” will find they may have arrived at the same place using his methodology for creating a rhythm for life.

 I found the questions at the end of the chapters quite helpful in fixing the major points of the chapter in my mind. They are a good aid to assist reflection on the core message of the chapter.

 I would highly recommend this book and give it a 5 stars out of 5.

 I received this book for free from Zondervan via Cross Focused Reviews for this review. I was not required to write a positive review.