Invitation to Joy.

 

Invitation To Joy: Your Pathway to a Purpose-Filled Life

Author: John Murray

Publisher: Self-published, White Rock, BC, 2023

 

Making the Plain Things the Main Things

 

I recently told my spouse that I would be happy just staying at home for the rest of my life. Up to my last birthday (my 76^th) I had been a very active and very involved type-A doer. But somehow things had changed, and I no longer felt like making the effort.  Well, clearly God wasn’t finished with me yet and (I believe) He arranged for my friend John Murray to send me his latest book, Invitation To Joy. I read it in one day and am delighted to recommend it highly.

John makes the “pathway to a purpose-filled life” very simple, very quick, and very effective – if you want it to be. He takes Alistair Begg’s quote to heart making some very “plain” things the “main” things. John gives us a plain (not simple) means of getting to Joy.

He shares with us some things he considers important to a life of purpose and meaning. While recognizing our uniqueness and differences as individuals, he dares ask the question, “Are we not all the same on the inside?” He contends that every person has the same inherent value, and it is “we” that regard some with greater respect than others and put them on pedestals, adoring some like sports personalities and actors.

In the process, John gives us some gems to think about and incorporate into our daily lives. For starters, he makes us think about our real ‘friends’ by giving us a solid definition of a ‘friend’.  A plain thing.  He then takes us through thoughts on ‘love’.  Another plain thing. He borrows St. Augustine’s description of God’s love and shows us what an impact it can have on others.

From there the author moves us along to the need that millions and millions of people have today – the need for ‘physical touch’ – an arm around one’s shoulder, a hug, even a pat on the back. Another plain thing.

But wait, there’s more.  He delves into the matter of “contentment” and how we might ever find ourselves there. Time for another pain thing – gratitude. He covers the inter-relationship between gratitude and joy. And with the help of David Steindl-Rast, the Austrian-American Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer, he helps show us which of the two is dependent on the other.

And there are more ‘plain’ things for us to make into ‘main’ things. Some we may not like or welcome, but there’s no avoiding them as we pursue both Joy and Purpose.  Plain things like ‘kindness’ and ‘generosity’, both of which are linked to ‘gratitude’ and thus ‘joy’.

The latter part of John Murray’s book takes us to the point in time when we the readers are no longer around and makes us think about the question, “Have I made the world around me a better place because of my being here?”

One more thing. Don’t for a minute think Murray is living in a dream, imagining an ideal world. He isn’t.  He has had his share of difficulties in his life, so he shares with us about the co-existence of joy and adversity.

All very real.  All very useful. All very necessary. All very well written. The content clearly demonstrates John’s growth as an author, and we are the beneficiaries.  I highly recommend the book for you, and for your family and friends.  I’ve already shared it with a number.

 

GET Your Copies by Contacting John Murray:  jmurray150@hotmail.com .

 

n   Ken B. Godevenos, is the retired President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, January 13, 2023.   You can go “Digging For Scriptural Gems” with him at https://www.youtube.com/user/accordconsulting/videos.

 

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