Distractions and fear and busyness were keeping Leighton Ford from seeing God's work in and around him. So he began a journey of longing and looking for God. And it started with paying attention. In "The Attentive Life," he invites you to journey with him. Using the tradition of praying the hours, Ford walks with you to help you pay attention to God's work in your life. The way toward God starts with intention and attention--and eventually becomes a way of life, awake and alive to the peaceful, powerful presence of God.

Average Customer Rating:

4.8

out of

(5 Reviews) 5

Rating Snapshot (5 reviews)

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2 out of 2100%customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Customer Reviews for The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things

Review 1 for The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

excellent antidote to crazy culture

Date:June 6, 2012

canadian zooey

Location:Canada

Quality:

5 out of 5

Value:

5 out of 5

Meets Expectations:

5 out of 5

As a lifelong lover of words, this is one of the most beautiful, brilliant books I've read. It's also among the best antidotes out there to the neurotic, hyperactivity of most of modern, ahem, 'culture'. Reading it is to rest in and learn from the stillness, depth, clarity, gentle humour and high perspective of its author, Dr. Leighton Ford.

“Often we keep ourselves busy and distracted because we fear that if we slow down and are still, we may look inside and find nothing there," sums up his cultural critique.

In a section entitled 'One Who Paid Attention: C.S. Lewis Looking Along a Beam', Ford writes of Lewis’s realization of "two ways of looking at life: looking at the dancing and moving events, the happenings and surroundings of each day, and looking 'sideways' so to speak, 'along the beam’ to see not only what is happening but why, and what it is that gives meaning to the happenings of our lives." We need to both look 'at' and 'along' the beams each and every day, Ford encourages us.

He blames French philosopher René Descartes for bedevilling us with dualism: the idea of a division between mind and matter.

“Many of us now assume,” he writes, “that knowledge is either 'scientific' and based on facts or 'mystical' and based on fancy, and never the twain shall meet.”

Again he brings in my most favourite author on the planet, C.S. Lewis, to provide the counterargument: “God must have loved material things: after all, He made them!”

Ford writes that he hopes “this book will help us to pay close attention both to the beams that surround us and the Source that upholds us, in such a way that time and eternity, this world and the next, are always intersecting.” In other well-chosen words, “that not just the experiments of the scientist or the intuitions of the mystic will save us and transform this world.”

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Review 2 for The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

Help for the 'second journey'

Date:November 17, 2011

Jules

Location:Huntsville, ON, Canada

Age:45-54

Gender:female

Quality:

4 out of 5

Value:

4 out of 5

Meets Expectations:

4 out of 5

I enjoyed Leighton's description of his own 'second journey' using the observation of 'hours' as a daily marker and also a life passage marker of being attentive to and interacting with the presence of our very intimate, personal God. It gave me lots of opportunities to be reflective of my own life as I venture on my 'second journey'. It's great to walk the journey with other people of faith like Leighton.

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Review 3 for The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:July 14, 2009

Anne Wenger

If you have found that your life is so full of activity that your attention is habitually divided and you can be easily distracted, this book will give you practical helps to learn to pay attention. That will influence your personal relationships, beginning with the most foundational one with God Himself. It was recommended to me, and I will definitely recommend it to others. It may not interest anyone who is not ready to focus on that which is of greatest value in life.

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Review 4 for The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:August 29, 2008

Cathie Sutfin

Leighton Ford must have been writing this book for me personally. I have been sharing his quotes and observations with other Christians, especially with my prayer and study groups. I first found "The Attentive Life" at my local library and quickly found I needed my own copy to contain my homework. Praying the hours is just what I needed to focus my attention on God's work in my life right now. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate this book as part of a study for my Women of Spirit group. I was unfamiliar with Leighton Ford but will probably seek out some of his other writings.

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Review 5 for The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:June 24, 2008

Marchien Marshall

I have not finished the book. I am intrigued by the 'hour' time frame to set aside to pray, to 'pay attention' . Remember Daniel? Leighton Ford is not talking about rituals but 'awareness' of God's presence all throughout the day.Makes me wonder how much I have missed God, by not being 'attentive' enough.I highly recommend this book and have already recommended it to my friends.

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