The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life

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 is 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." Most 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