Simple Compassion: Devotions to Make a Difference in Your Neighborhoods and Your World by Keri Wyatt Kent
Buy "Simple Compassion" on Amazon.com
Simple Compassion: Devotions to Make a Difference in Your Neighborhoods and Your World (Oct. 2009) encourages readers to start small, think big and work together to change the world – one act of simple compassion at a time. Author and speaker Keri Wyatt Kent inspires readers to make a difference in their own lives and initiate a ripple effect touching their families, communities, cities and the world.
Through 52 weekly readings, Kent provides a blueprint for a compassionate life. Readers who embark on this year-long journey and commit to living out the weekly devotions will radically change their lives and the world around them. Simple Compassion is an ideal resource for individuals and small groups who want to make a difference but don’t know where to start. Kent empowers readers to take small, manageable steps towards a more compassionate world.
“I wanted readers to know that making a difference is not as hard as they think it is: anyone can take just a small step,” says Kent. “The problems of the world may seem overwhelming. But if each person were to help one other person, it would make a huge difference. It would change the world…”
Shane Claiborne, author of the bestselling The Irresistible Revolution says, “True devotions are not just books filled with fluffy stories and neat anecdotes, but books that should stir us to devote our lives to something bigger than ourselves… Simple Compassion is a weekly reminder that things are not right in the world, that this matters to God and perhaps strangest of all, that God doesn’t want to change the world without us.”
Simple Compassion is divided into four sections. The first helps the reader understanding their worth and the worth of others. The second looks at simple ways to show compassion to the family, friends and strangers in their communities. The third goes broader and focuses on showing the love of Christ to their cities and towns. The last section offers steps of compassion and social justice on a global scale.
Each weekly reading ends with two application steps, one for individuals and one to help groups reading the book together connect and encourage one another. These include elements of self-reflection, studying Biblical stories and honestly engaging with group members. She also challenges readers to take practical steps toward compassion, such as bringing someone a cold bottle of water, hanging anti-human trafficking posters or highlighting lower income areas on a map of the reader’s town and spending time praying for the marked areas, then visiting a church in the area to listen and ask questions.
A leader’s guide is included with insights and additional suggested Bible verses for each week.
About the Author:
Keri Wyatt Kent
Keri Wyatt Kent worked as a reporter for fifteen years before writing her first book and is the author of several books, including Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity (Zondervan) Breathe (Revell) and Listen (Jossey-Bass). When she’s not busy traveling around the country to speak and lead retreats, she’s writing. She’s a regular contributor to several magazines, including MomSense and Outreach magazine, as well as several websites and blogs. She’s a member of Willow Creek Community Church, where she has taught, led groups and volunteered in a variety of ministries over the last 22 years. She and her husband Scot have two teenage children and live in Illinois.
Learn more about Keri at http://www.keriwyattkent.com.
Here is my review of this terrific devotional:
First of all, I would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank you” to Keri Wyatt Kent and her publisher for sending me a copy of "Simple Compassion" to review for them. I have always been grateful for this generosity, and I am trying to improve at being consistent in taking the time to thank these wonderfully giving individuals in a public forum. I really appreciate your time, effort and expense in making a reviewer copy available to me.
“Simple Compassion” by Keri Wyatt Kent is a fine devotional filled with suggestions for becoming more compassionate as an individual and with a group. This book is designed to be read over the course of a one-year period at the rate of one devotion per week. Each reading is 3-4 pages, and contains a variety of recommended activities to make you and your group more compassionate.
Each reading builds upon the next if read in order, but this book can also be read out of order by choosing specific topics from the table of contents. The book also contains a valuable Leader Guide in the back that helps the individual or group to put these suggestions into practice. From the beautiful cover to the beautiful word and concepts contained within its pages, this book is a treasure.
Check out what these other bloggers have to say:
A Little Whine and Cheese
Admissions of a Suburban Philosopher
Be Your Best Mom
Bell Whistle Moon
Blog Tour Spot
Book Nook Club
Carlybird’s Home
CommuniKate
Deus E Fiel
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
i don’t believe in grammar
J’s Spot
Lighthouse Academy
Mary’s World
Musings
Musings by Lynn
Paper Bridges
Ponderings by Andrea
Real Women Scrap
Scraps and Snippets
The 160-acre Woods
The Prairie Maid
The Unadorned Book Review
The View From Here
Word Up Studies
Writer for a Reader
Simple Compassion: Devotions to Make a Difference in Your Neighborhoods and Your World (Oct. 2009) encourages readers to start small, think big and work together to change the world – one act of simple compassion at a time. Author and speaker Keri Wyatt Kent inspires readers to make a difference in their own lives and initiate a ripple effect touching their families, communities, cities and the world.
Through 52 weekly readings, Kent provides a blueprint for a compassionate life. Readers who embark on this year-long journey and commit to living out the weekly devotions will radically change their lives and the world around them. Simple Compassion is an ideal resource for individuals and small groups who want to make a difference but don’t know where to start. Kent empowers readers to take small, manageable steps towards a more compassionate world.
“I wanted readers to know that making a difference is not as hard as they think it is: anyone can take just a small step,” says Kent. “The problems of the world may seem overwhelming. But if each person were to help one other person, it would make a huge difference. It would change the world…”
Shane Claiborne, author of the bestselling The Irresistible Revolution says, “True devotions are not just books filled with fluffy stories and neat anecdotes, but books that should stir us to devote our lives to something bigger than ourselves… Simple Compassion is a weekly reminder that things are not right in the world, that this matters to God and perhaps strangest of all, that God doesn’t want to change the world without us.”
Simple Compassion is divided into four sections. The first helps the reader understanding their worth and the worth of others. The second looks at simple ways to show compassion to the family, friends and strangers in their communities. The third goes broader and focuses on showing the love of Christ to their cities and towns. The last section offers steps of compassion and social justice on a global scale.
Each weekly reading ends with two application steps, one for individuals and one to help groups reading the book together connect and encourage one another. These include elements of self-reflection, studying Biblical stories and honestly engaging with group members. She also challenges readers to take practical steps toward compassion, such as bringing someone a cold bottle of water, hanging anti-human trafficking posters or highlighting lower income areas on a map of the reader’s town and spending time praying for the marked areas, then visiting a church in the area to listen and ask questions.
A leader’s guide is included with insights and additional suggested Bible verses for each week.
About the Author:
Keri Wyatt Kent
Keri Wyatt Kent worked as a reporter for fifteen years before writing her first book and is the author of several books, including Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity (Zondervan) Breathe (Revell) and Listen (Jossey-Bass). When she’s not busy traveling around the country to speak and lead retreats, she’s writing. She’s a regular contributor to several magazines, including MomSense and Outreach magazine, as well as several websites and blogs. She’s a member of Willow Creek Community Church, where she has taught, led groups and volunteered in a variety of ministries over the last 22 years. She and her husband Scot have two teenage children and live in Illinois.
Learn more about Keri at http://www.keriwyattkent.com.
Here is my review of this terrific devotional:
First of all, I would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank you” to Keri Wyatt Kent and her publisher for sending me a copy of "Simple Compassion" to review for them. I have always been grateful for this generosity, and I am trying to improve at being consistent in taking the time to thank these wonderfully giving individuals in a public forum. I really appreciate your time, effort and expense in making a reviewer copy available to me.
“Simple Compassion” by Keri Wyatt Kent is a fine devotional filled with suggestions for becoming more compassionate as an individual and with a group. This book is designed to be read over the course of a one-year period at the rate of one devotion per week. Each reading is 3-4 pages, and contains a variety of recommended activities to make you and your group more compassionate.
Each reading builds upon the next if read in order, but this book can also be read out of order by choosing specific topics from the table of contents. The book also contains a valuable Leader Guide in the back that helps the individual or group to put these suggestions into practice. From the beautiful cover to the beautiful word and concepts contained within its pages, this book is a treasure.
Check out what these other bloggers have to say:
A Little Whine and Cheese
Admissions of a Suburban Philosopher
Be Your Best Mom
Bell Whistle Moon
Blog Tour Spot
Book Nook Club
Carlybird’s Home
CommuniKate
Deus E Fiel
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
i don’t believe in grammar
J’s Spot
Lighthouse Academy
Mary’s World
Musings
Musings by Lynn
Paper Bridges
Ponderings by Andrea
Real Women Scrap
Scraps and Snippets
The 160-acre Woods
The Prairie Maid
The Unadorned Book Review
The View From Here
Word Up Studies
Writer for a Reader
Comments
so glad to hear that you liked the book! thanks so much for the review.
As part of the blog tour, we're asking people to do one act of simple compassion each week. you can tell us about it on my blog, or by posting a video on www.sayitfacetoface.com. Readers who tell us about their acts of compassion could win a free book! Details are on my site (link below). Thanks again for the great review.
Tina