Missions Resources - Bibliography
The Contented Soul: The Art of Savoring Life
Authors: Lisa Graham McMinn
ISBN: 0830833358
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Number of pages: 184
Type of cover: Hard Cover
Summary: Reviewed by Paul Grant
“The art of savoring life.” Thus reads the subtitle of this wonderful new book. But don’t let the soothing cover fool you: this is also a serious book. Author Lisa Graham McMinn is out to slay some dragons in our hurried society.
Our culture is sick with worry. We rush from activity to activity, but find no peace. We Christians – especially we Christians – talk a blue streak about “what a friend we have in Jesus,” but when we’re really honest, we are too anxious to really believe it.
Now, as we approach the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US – after a summer that has seen repeated terror alerts – we are no more at peace than we were in October, 2001. Worse, we are just as sick with unease as we were in August 2001. The real culprit lies not so much in warfare, but in the state of our souls. And it is there that honesty leads us.
Broken relationships, seared consciences, diseased bodies, polluted environments and restless hearts: all these matter to God. Contentment is like the peace that leaps out of the Bible: it is far more than the absence of trouble. Indeed, contentment gets deeper – as does this book – upon closer examination.
Contentment is primarily about our relationship with Christ. Do we trust him – really trust him – to take care of us? Or do we take matters into our own hands by fretting about them? Ultimately, our goal is not contentment at all. What we’re really about is getting to know and love our maker and savior. As long as we keep our hearts pointed homeward, we’ll be fine. As long as we aim for our own contentment, we will remain unhappy.
The same principle extends to mission: when we enter into the hurting world, wanting an experience, that’s about all we’ll get, and the people we claim to serve won’t benefit greatly from our presence. But when we go into those same hurting places, not worried about what we’ll get out of it, God may well dazzle our eyes.
Or he might not. The last thing Graham McMinn is doing is adding one more self-help book to the ever-growing pile. No, she is trying to undo much of the culture of happiness. “Why am I unhappy on this cold, rainy morning?” is the wrong question. “What is God trying to say to me through this cold, rainy morning?” is a much more promising direction.
Ultimately, since contentment is not about the material circumstances around us, and about a relationship, a person can find contentment in the midst of a circus. And for those of us dreading lengthy security screens at the airport, and for those of us returning from vacation to face another school year, the art of savoring life is really the art of trusting and obeying God.
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