Savor


Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are by Shauna Niequist sounded like a great devotional. I love food and recipes and although I've never read any of Shauna's books, she sounded very relatable, so I thought I'd give it a shot. This book is a year-long devotional, containing 365 individual chapters. Each devotional contains a Bible verse, a few paragraphs from Shauna, and then a thought at the end to ponder/journal/pray about. There are also recipes sprinkled throughout. The book description reads:

"Sink deep into the everyday goodness of God and savor every moment!


In this daily devotional, Shauna Niequist becomes a friend across the pages, sharing her heart with yours, keeping you company, and inviting you into the abundant life God offers.


And there are recipes, too, because spiritual living happens not just when we read and pray, but also when we gather with family and friends over dinners and breakfasts and late-night snacks. These recipes are Shauna’s staples, and each one should be enjoyed around a table with people you love.


So read and learn and pray and cook and share. Remember to savor each day, whatever it holds: work and play, coffee and kids, meals and prayers and the good stuff and the hard stuff. Life is all about relationships, and your daily relationship with God is worth savoring in every moment."

Sounds great, right? Well, I have to say that I was kind of let down by this one. Maybe part of the problem was that I've never read any of Shauna's books and know nothing about her (although on the opposite side, most of this devotional is recycled from her prior books and blogs, so that might not be much better), maybe part of it was reading it on the Kindle instead of a paper book. I tried picking up on the devotionals in May, but it seemed like they were a continuation of prior entries, so they made no sense. I had to go to January 1st and start there instead - so if you're picking this up in the middle of the year, be prepared to not be able to synch with the dates. The devotional content for each day is very short - 3 paragraphs or so, and doesn't always have much to do with the selected verse. What she has to say is nice, but this feels more like a collection of extremely short stories rather than a devotional, as what she has to say is largely about her life and personal experiences rather than God specifically. Also, the recipes were difficult to find in the Kindle edition. I think this devotional is more geared toward people who already know Shauna's story and might do better in the paper edition rather than the Kindle edition.

I received a copy of this book from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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