The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life [Paperback]

Paula Huston, a woman of many talents— professor, wife, mother and author (Signatures of Grace)—offers this outstanding Christian guide to voluntary simplicity. Right from the start, we know we are being led by a woman who walks the talk (and be honest about when she stumbles). "One of the first tricks I tried to play on myself was to pretend that some parts of me were exempt from this difficult transformation process, for example my tendency to exaggerate," she confesses. After all, exaggeration is a writer’s birthright, she told herself. "It did not take long to figure out that the quest for a simpler, holier life eventually must touch every aspect of our nature, and that Jesus refers to the spiritual path as the 'narrow way' for a reason." st of us assume that this "narrow way" is a desolate journey—filled with enormous sacrifice and meal after meal of brown rice with tofu. But, as Huston explains, the path of simpler living begins with an internal journey rather than a sudden external shift in lifestyle. She starts the book with the art of creating more solitude—showing us how much we define and distract ourselves by the company and clutter that surrounds us. When Huston moves into a chapter on silence—we see how the greatest challenge is quieting the noise in our head, not the noise in our household or workplace. She quotes scripture in just the right doses and at the end of every chapter she shares stories of the lives of saints who lived various forms of simplicity. The highlights are Huston's personal reflections, especially as she reveals the challenges and the rewards of "the holy way." This is a highly inspirational life story that becomes more rich and satisfying with every step on the path. --Gail Hudson

Using the Christian tradition of solitude, silence and contemplation as her foundation, Huston offers one of the best books available on living the simple life. Voluntary simplicity may sound like an enormous personal sacrifice, downscaling material purchases, unplugging the phone, turning off the TV and pursuing meaningful work instead of high-income drudgery. But according to Huston, the payoff is so enormous that it's hard to understand why anyone wouldn't jump on the bandwagon. "Interior chaos subsides; the psychic battlefield goes calm and silent," she promises. She notes that practicing the simple life requires more of an internal shift than an outward act of shedding possessions or moving to a monastery. In each chapter, Huston offers healthy doses of self-disclosure. When she wanted to create more silence, she first tried to quiet all the noise around her, only to discover that the real challenge was learning to silence herself. (She's a self-confessed motor mouth.) When she wanted to start carving out times of spiritual contemplation, she had to face her chronic habit of oversleeping. She even reveals how much of her self-esteem was invested in attracting male attention in her exquisite chapter on the deeper meaning of celibacy. Huston gives readers the sense that if she can make these small, yet profound, steps toward a simpler life, anyone can. Each chapter includes an inspirational story about a saint as well as just the right seasonings of scripture. This excellent guidebook will motivate many readers to take at least one small step toward living a simpler life.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.