From the Grave by A.W. Tozer
In the church I grew up in, Lent was always a special time of year. Being a part of a strong Catholic family made the traditions associated with Lent even more special. My entire family highly valued giving up something we enjoyed and avoiding eating meat on Fridays, which made the Lenten season a family event. Few, if any, of us, however, really knew or understood the heart behind Lent (or maybe everyone did, and it was just me...that's possible too!)- the heart behind my elementary school aged self giving up chocolate or pizza or pop (also called "soda") for 40 long days. This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. On campus, there were scores of students going from class to class, ordering coffee, and hanging out in the student union with the dark ashes tenderly marked on their forehead like my family and I used to get when we would attend Ash Wednesday service. When meeting with one of my students on Wednesday, she asked me some fantastic questions about Lent: what is the significance of the ashes, why do we give things up, should we give things up or is that legalism, why is Lent 40 days? All great questions...that I didn't have the answers to! Until I began reading this devotional, that is! I was attracted to From the Grave because it is a devotional, it is written by Tozer, and the writing for each day is extremely short! Jake and I have been reading it together, and can typically read through the day's passage in less than 10 minutes. The content is incredible! Each day, Jake and I typically end up discussing the day's devotional throughout the entire day! The introduction gives a great explanation to what Lent and gives a short background...did you know that Lent is 40 days, but Sundays are not included in the 40 days? I had no idea! Each devotional has been powerful and caused me to think about what I've learned throughout the day. There are not questions at the end of each day, but the content is so thought-provoking that it has naturally sparked conversations between me and Jake after we read it for the day. It has led to great discussion with my students and other staff, and I've already recommended it to several people! My Rating? 5/5 It's not too far into the Lenten season to grab a copy of this book! The depth of the content with the brevity of each day's content makes this book a perfect match for anyone who has a busy schedule but wants to dig deeper into Lent! *I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.* |
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