The Sacred Ordinary by Leigh McLeroy

Reviewed by John Perrodin

"...a volume of inordinate beauty and simplicity..."

Each entry in The Sacred Ordinary causes one to pause, breath deeply, and reflect on the profound thoughts contained within. Leigh McLeroy has written a volume of inordinate beauty and simplicity in which she shares heartfelt intimacies given to her directly by God.

McLeroy’s thoughtful prose shines on the subject of communication gizmos. “Technology can cause me to think I’ve “connected” with dozens of people during the course of a day, when I haven’t sat for more than a moment before a single living being. These tools may make me efficient, but they don’t help me to know deeply or be deeply known. That takes the commodity we hold most precious of all: time.”

Another entry compares Peter Parker (yes, Spider-Man) and King David. “Peter and David both learned the hard way that with power and chosen-ness come responsibility…and that there’s more to a leader than his public performance. Leaders are made in private – and just putting on the crown doesn’t make a man a king any more than putting on the blue and red leotard made a nerdy schoolboy a superhero.”

She adds, “We must be changed…in private and from the inside out. Because power doesn’t make a man. Power reveals a man.” McLeroy ends this reading with a prayer: “There’s a lot of Peter Parker in me. I’m not a likely hero or an eager one. But God is in the process of transforming me through the power of his Spirit so that I might live beyond the ordinary for his glory. (Just don’t ask me to fly.)”

“Comfortably Incarcerated” speaks of the imprisonment of cooking guru Martha Stewart and notes that many of us create invisible fences of fear, anger, self-pity, or rage. But as Christians, we don’t belong in bondage even if we feel safe there. “Isn’t it time for us to open the doors we’re cowering behind and walk in the freedom already won for us?”

The 112 daily meditations ring with extraordinary meaning because of the author’s unique writing gift. The stories chosen exhibit both humor and pathos. McLeroy speaks about her dog Chester the Japanese Chin who actually smiles. She later shares a scene with a young girl struggling to survive the ravages of cancer. In these examples, The Sacred Ordinary succeeds at “embracing the holy in the everyday” as its subtitle notes. The ordinary matters to McLeroy. It can and should to us as well.

John Perrodin is the Senior Editor for the Christian Writers Guild. He co-authored the Renegade Spirit Trilogy with Jerry B. Jenkins. The latest release in that series is Seclusion Point (Thomas Nelson). His book, Simple Little Words: What You Say Can Change a Life, written with Michelle Cox, releases in April 2008 from David C. Cook. Please visit www.simplelittlewords.com to find out more about the book, and visit John's website www.johnperrodin.com to find out more about his writing.