Reviews

Windows of the Soul: Hearing God in the Everyday Moments of Your Life by Ken Gire

willyb123's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

neilrcoulter's review against another edition

3.0

People at work wanted to read this and discuss it together, which we'll start doing next month. And so I wish I enjoyed it a lot more than I did. It's not terrible, it's just a little syrupy for my tastes. One challenge for me as I read it is that I didn't know anything about Ken Gire, but his writing style feels like what you'd say to a close friend. I don't have the trust relationship yet, so until he started telling his own personal history, I didn't care very much about what he was writing (because of the nature of the book's personal, spiritual content). Later in the book, he does tell his story, bit by bit, so that helped.

Two chapters that stood out to me were "Windows of Vocation" and "Windows of the Wilderness." They resonated with where I'm at right now—though Gire is on the other side of it, and I'm still stuck in the middle of the wilderness, which is a little painful. Gire writes:

Suddenly I found myself against a God who baited me and then set the hook. But it was not the punishment of the hook. That was nothing. It was the hunger in my soul, and that I was against something, or something was against me, that I did not comprehend. That was everything. (108)

I know that feeling, and I can't wait to be through it and looking back on it in hindsight. Someday.

Gire's chapter "Windows of Art" is a really nice example of one person getting to know an artist (Van Gogh) and finding depth and meaning in the journey. That chapter made me want to read more about Van Gogh.