Souvenirs of the Holy: Encountering God Through Everyday Objects

Connect with God, memories, and your deepest self through the simple stuff of life. In this indelible work of spiritual formation, Episcopal priest and author Laurie M. Brock invites readers to contemplate ordinary things. How might the sacred astonish us by showing up in everyday items?

Rocks. Cast iron skillets. Portraits. Calendars. Shoes. The regular objects of our lives can be conduits of God's love and grace--if we notice them. What if, instead of ignoring the things we use every day, we let them testify? What might our things say?

In Souvenirs of the Holy, Brock helps us see everyday items not merely as objects gathering dust but as keepsakes from the literal and spiritual journeys we have taken. With pastoral presence, humor, and poetic grace, she helps us tap into the unseen realms underneath the things we take for granted: a coin from our father holding complex yearnings for love, the scar on our arm speaking of survival, the quilt on the bed holding scraps we've inherited, the garden shears reminding us that pruning brings forth new life.

Join Brock on a journey of spiritual direction through everyday things, and discover the sacred in the ordinary. Reflect on the items in your life that connect you to a God who dwells within and beyond the material world. With creative ideas for praying with objects, this book is ideal for book clubs, church circles, and small groups seeking deeper, more tangible spiritual experiences.

Holy things can be found outside of church buildings. What objects in your own life speak of usefulness? Of survival? Of guidance and redemption? Deepen your sense of God's enduring love through this spiritual field guide to all things sacred.

Rev. Laurie M. Brock is the author of Where God Hides Holiness, Horses Speak of God, and God, Grace, and Horses and the rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Lexington, Kentucky. She is a frequent contributor to books and online spirituality resources, as well as a speaker at local and national events about faith. Brock is also a competitive equestrian. She graduated from law school at the University of Alabama and received her MDiv from The General Theological Seminary in New York City in 2002. She has served churches in Mobile, Alabama, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.