There is a Season

I cannot say enough about the value of this book to me and to those I have shared it with. I have read it over and over, getting new insights each time. It truly has been my favorite gift to people I love.

This is a life changing book. Joan Chittister is a little extreme in her feminist position for me but everything else in her book truly touched my soul and made me rethink some long-held opinions.

Warning: the art in this book will inspire you! If you have never seen the art of John August Swanson, this is a grand introduction. I also recommend "The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman's Life," another collaboration between Chittister and Swanson.

This is a beautifully written and illustrated book that makes us see the world in a new light. The author explains issues such as intolerance, war and lonelines as immature reactions that can be understood and overcome by spiritual growth and reverence to the soul and to the natural world. The book consists of 20 short essays, each pondering one of the seasons in the Book of Ecclesiastes, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to love and a time to hate,a time to plant and a time to sow, etc. and guiding us to meditate and to see life in a fuller and more gentle context.This is a beatifully illustrated book that can be used as a special gift. I have read and re-read it, which I seldom do, because it always helps me focus on the real virtues of life. I have given it to my ( young adult) children who are now entering the time in their lives where living meaningfully will impact all that they do.The simplicity of the style and the poetry of the images makes this a delightful book to be turn to time and again. Few authors can say so much in such few words.

Joan Chittister's reflections on the famous verses of Ecclesiates, 'to everything there is a season...' are not only articulate, suscinct, and penned in beautiful prose, they are also thought provoking and challenging in many ways. John August Swanson's art is simply breathtaking! The more you study the pictures, the more there is to be revealed. Included is a useful description of how the print was made by the artist himself. I have read some of Joan Chittister's works before and find her style to be interesting. It is deceptively easy to read. She is profound in her observations and astute in her assessments. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and found it to be one of the best I read all year.