Simply Open Book review

Simply Open was a book that I really loved and would gladly recommend to others though it did take me a bit to get into it. Prayer, as I've mentioned on this blog before, is something I'm working hard on and when the opportunity to review this book presented itself, I jumped on the chance. 

"Loving God reveals that all humanity is beloved of God, that all men, women, and children are kin. And we cannot love God without loving our kin." 

This book is about prayer, but doesn't sit there and tell you how to pray explicitly. It is written by Pastor Greg Paul and takes you through a prayer process via the five senses plus the heart and mind. The prayer offered throughout each chapter focuses on releasing, receiving, becoming, and doing, with a focus on a different part of the prayer which goes the basics of:

Open my heart, that I may release what I have loved, and so receive your love for me, love you more deeply, and truly love others. 

Each chapter then focuses on parts of the author's life, that of famous Christian's lives, and of course, Biblical lives that represent one of the senses. It's an interesting take on prayer, how to pray, and how to look at prayer and I think it's one that is easily accessible to everyone and easily adjustable to everyone. Such as, for me, when I see a beautiful sunset, I could pray to God for allowing me to see the beauty in his creation. When my son, who is 12 and not as affectionate any longer, comes up and hugs me and tells me he loves me, I could utter a small prayer of thanks for the ability feel his hugs, and for how full my heart feels because of it.

I enjoyed it and it gave me a new take on prayer. There were some people I wasn't familiar with as someone who has grown up in predominately non-denominational and Baptist churches, but it gave me additional people to look up! One such was Saint Columba, who had an interesting story. 


I was given this book from BookLook bloggers in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.