Book Review: Ordering Your Private World

Ordering Your Private World, Revised and Updated, by Gordon MacDonald

When I picked up this book, I thought it was a book about time management. However, I quickly discovered it was book about the care of an individual's soul. It is part warning against the driven, disorganized, distracted busyness that pushes people to "burnout, breakdown, or blowup" (pg. 10). MacDonald states, "A soul--our spiritual space-- is empty when one tries to do soul-based things but makes little or no effort to keep that soul filled" (pg. xviii).

It is also part instruction manual, as MacDonald explains the resources we can use to keep our souls filled. The key is disciple, or more accurately, the spiritual disciplines. He states, "If we are ever to develop a spiritual life that gives contentment, it will be because we approach spiritual living as a discipline, much as the athlete trains his or her body for competition" (pg. 121). He lists five spiritual exercises: "the pursuit of silence and solitude, singing, regularly listening to God; the experience of reflection and meditation; and prayer as worship and intercession" (pg. 128). He also deals with role of friends and periods of rest in restoring balance to the inner world.

Much of the book resonated with me. I saw myself reflected in his descriptions of the disorganized person. His discussion on journaling was helpful (although I would have liked a more detailed how-to). I liked that he included singing in his list of spiritual exercises. There is some helpful insights to glean throughout this book.

However, there were a few things I didn't like. His treatment of the spiritual exercises was uneven, and in some places, thin. While I doubt it was his intention, it seemed like reading and studying the Bible were merely options at the table and not the main course. In his effort to avoid hard and fast rules, he missed the opportunity to guide a novice into a deeper understanding.

Overall, Ordering Your Private World was a helpful book. It helped me to recognize some errors in my own spiritual development and encouraged me to approach spiritual development with more disciple. Should you read it? If you are new to the spiritual disciplines, I would recommend you start somewhere else like Don Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. If you are familiar with the spiritual disciplines, but wonder why you should bother with them, then you would probably be helped by this book.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.