Kayleen (jegka) reviewed Three Wise Women: 40 Devotions Celebrating Advent with Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna on + 162 more book reviews
I love a good devotional, but what makes one "good" is unique to each person and even, to each person's stage of life or place in their journey. So I endeavor to give you a feel for this one, to decide if it is what you need this season.
This book, as stated in its intro, views the Bible as "absolute truth" so how literally you believe the Bible stories are intended to be taken may sway your opinion.
The concept seems a little confused in structure. The subtitle claims 40 devotions celebrating Advent, but the devotions start on 1 December (not the beginning of Advent) and going until Epiphany. I am always the last one on my block to take down the decorations, as I believe in the 12 days of Christmas and leaving them up until Epiphany, but that isn't what the title would have you believe. By my count that includes 37 devotions. Maybe the title is a hold-over from Lent?
After that bit of OCD distractedness, I do like the structure. We begin with five days thinking about Mary, then five with Elizabeth, then three with Anna before becoming more random. And each day, all the way through, has a theme: Hope, Waiting, Love, Loneliness, Grace, Worry, Wonder...
But some are told in the first person voice of these women, which I also find distracting. Instead of, from Mary, "Only after the wise men departed did I ponder the gifts they left. I was so overwhelmed with the wise men's generosity, I failed to consider what each gift might mean," I would rather be led to my own imagination. "Do you think Mary immediately understood the symbolism of each gift?"
My pet peeve is going to a funeral and the eulogist tell us what the dead person is saying or thinking right that moment from Heaven. They can't possibly know. This collection strikes the same chord in me. It projects the authors abilities or prejudices upon these women. Maybe Mary had the presence of mind to know exactly what those gifts represented.
Overall, I really like the premise (even if the subtitle is misleading), but the presumptuous idea to write the devotions in the voice of these revered women is off-putting to me. I really really wanted to like this one, but it is not for me.
This book, as stated in its intro, views the Bible as "absolute truth" so how literally you believe the Bible stories are intended to be taken may sway your opinion.
The concept seems a little confused in structure. The subtitle claims 40 devotions celebrating Advent, but the devotions start on 1 December (not the beginning of Advent) and going until Epiphany. I am always the last one on my block to take down the decorations, as I believe in the 12 days of Christmas and leaving them up until Epiphany, but that isn't what the title would have you believe. By my count that includes 37 devotions. Maybe the title is a hold-over from Lent?
After that bit of OCD distractedness, I do like the structure. We begin with five days thinking about Mary, then five with Elizabeth, then three with Anna before becoming more random. And each day, all the way through, has a theme: Hope, Waiting, Love, Loneliness, Grace, Worry, Wonder...
But some are told in the first person voice of these women, which I also find distracting. Instead of, from Mary, "Only after the wise men departed did I ponder the gifts they left. I was so overwhelmed with the wise men's generosity, I failed to consider what each gift might mean," I would rather be led to my own imagination. "Do you think Mary immediately understood the symbolism of each gift?"
My pet peeve is going to a funeral and the eulogist tell us what the dead person is saying or thinking right that moment from Heaven. They can't possibly know. This collection strikes the same chord in me. It projects the authors abilities or prejudices upon these women. Maybe Mary had the presence of mind to know exactly what those gifts represented.
Overall, I really like the premise (even if the subtitle is misleading), but the presumptuous idea to write the devotions in the voice of these revered women is off-putting to me. I really really wanted to like this one, but it is not for me.
