Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Small Graces
The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life
Kent Nerburn
New World Library 04/98 Hardcover $15.00
ISBN: 1-57731-072-1

"We seldom pause to shine a light upon the ordinary moments, to hallow them with our own attentiveness, to honor them with gentle caring. They pass unnoticed, lost in the ongoing rush of time," writes Kent Nerburn, author of "A Haunting Reverence" and "Letters to My Son." Through this poetic and eye-opening collection of brief essays, we are touched by the beauty, the grandeur, and the meaning in ordinary moments and experiences.

Nerburn rises early to greet the breaking of the day. He savors his morning cup of coffee as a small act of worship. He knows that one key to everyday spirituality is being open to teachers of all sorts, and so he allows himself to be tutored in wonder by a blind woman, Native American elders, a priest in a garden, and a woman with cerebral palsy who is full of life.

"It is the wise person who sees near and far as the same, does not despise the small or value the great," Chuang Tzu once observed. Nerburn senses in his bones the truth of those words as he walks through the woods with his son, cherishes a meal, and ponders the significance of echoes and dark gifts. "Small Graces" elegantly etches its verities upon your heart with a subtlety that enchants.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat