inspirational

Joyce Rupp is a well-known speaker and writer in the area of Christian spiritual growth, and a member of the Servite (Servants of Mary) faith community. She leads retreats all over the world, and has written six other books on faith development and the Christian life.

This book is designed for personal and group use-and Rupp uses the images of coffee mugs to help start and move the prayerful discussion along. Broken cups and broken lives-empty, half-full and overflowing cups-all with solid Biblical connections which will be familiar and fresh to the reader at one and the same time.

It is a joy to see how a simple, everyday object can be the vehicle for Christ-centered conversation and contemplation. There are many ideas in this book which would help a couple, or a group of Christian friends, or an intentional small group, Sunday School class, or one soul in source of being filled with the gifts the Spirit provides.

Rupp structures the book as Weeks and Days; she also provides suggestions for group use-so if you are a facilitator, most of the work is done for you.

Of course, to benefit from A CUP OF BLESSING, you will need to bring along your mug and an open, expectant mind. And you will befit, if you do.

This is one of the most satisfying, uplifting, and encouraging devotion books I've read in many years. It's thought-provoking without being 'preachy'. I love the way the chapters are set up and the quotes included in each chapter are awesome.

And we can all relate to the cup as a metaphor for our lives...whether empty, full, overflowing or even cracked! I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a devotion book that really relates to everyday life.....you won't be disappointed.

In The Cup of Our Life, Joyce Rupp, OSM, offers practical suggestions and meaningful content to aide the spiritual pilgrim in developing a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. Once again, she draws on her own lived experience in offering insight, prayer practices, and meditations that will help the reader connect the routine of her/his life to a growing communion with a loving God.

Organized on a daily basis, Rupp's book encourages the reader to use an ordinary cup (or mug) to invite God more closely into one's pain, suffering, joys, hopes and struggles. She explores six major themes in the spiritual life, each one followed by prayer suggestions including litanies, creative writing, ideas for reflection and journal-keeping, and a celebratory ritual. Throughout, the author manifests a profound trust in the transformative power of the in-dwelling God, and in the dailiness of God's presence with all those who seek with a genuine heart.

Rupp's style is informal, accessible, poetic and, at times, profoundly moving. She is a fine writer and spiritual guide, sharing her experiential insights with great freedom, clarity and lyric simplicity. This is a book I have returned to more than once for its prayerful sensitivity, poetic language and wisdom. I recommend it highly.