“Ultimately, we are reborn to love because in this expanding, gracious space within us, we arrive at
the astonishing presence of God at the core of our life.
We blunder into the heart of God and find our own.”

An odd book, collecting Kidd’s early spiritual reflections from Guideposts magazine. Each chapter holds to a loose theme, with numerous short stories, reflections and vignettes on the theme. Some reflections were insightful, beautifully written and interesting. Other reflections were over-thought, preachy, and immature.

Kidd’s thoughts inspired me to look at the world differently and to perhaps do a little writing of my own.I particularly enjoyed her thoughts on motherhood and parenting.

Loved, loved , loved the book. If you are looking for spiritual
inspiration, this is the book. She tells stories throughout the
book and the insights at the end of each story is amazing. This is
a book that you will keep coming back to. I will be passing this book
along to many people.

Such wisdom and insight. Even if you are not religious SMK reflections of her God whispers are so poignant. I loved the story of the mailbox and bird nest. This is easy reading , thoughtful and one that I will reread and refer to from time to time. I loved it !

An interesting collection of Sue Monk Kidd's earlier spiritual writings.

I love beautiful writers and I'm a sucker for anything that receives a starred review in PW. Sue Monk Kidd has a way of painting with her words, especially in this book. These were all stories that appeared in Guideposts.

Wonderfully inspiring and thought-provoking; filled with life lessons that constantly need to be revisited.

_Firstlight_ is a collection of essays written by Kidd, grouped by topic rather than chronology, and even within each topic the essays aren't arranged in chronological order. The author reveals different moments in her personal growth as a spiritual person in a very accessible, vulnerable way. Kidd writes from a Christian background, I believe Episcopalian. She is an incredibly poetic and visual writer - I'd read just about anything by her on any topic just to hear her words fall like music inside my head. Because the book is a series of short essays, it's very easy to pick up and put down as one feel moved to read something contemplative (exactly how I read it). I read it cover-to-cover, but it could easily be read by finding the chapter on the topic that interests you, and randomly opening a page within that chapter.

What a delightful read! Drawing from her personal experiences and observations about life, friendship, faith, love and God, she writes creative non-fiction pieces (in this collection of early writings) which are revelatory. Lovely writing, easy reading. I read it in a couple of days.

stories on faith and life.

I chose this as an audiobook because I liked her book, The Secret Lives of Bees, and I was looking for a book at at time that I was getting ready to go see Mom and Dad and was pretty stressed out about decisions regarding them. I thought it might be helpful to calm my nerves, and if I didn't like her approach, I also selected another book. I did listen to it and for the most part, it did provide the calming I needed!

Like a ray of sunshine every morning with your coffee