How to Make 2019 The Best Year Yet–One Breath at a Time
Today is the official Launch Day of One Breath at a Time: A Skeptic’s Guide to Christian Mediation.
Yesterday, This is My Body author and dear friend Hannah Shanks told me: “If we ever needed deep breaths and ways to hold onto ourselves, it’s now.”
2018 wasn’t exactly stellar. It’s hard to remember a year that was. The past 12 months were fraught with crisis, division, injustice, and exhaustion. And though I’ve meditated consistently for over one year, I’m still effected by the state of our world. We should be. But we also need to stop, breathe, listen, and ask: how do we hold onto ourselves as we respond to the needs?
Hannah graciously offered that One Breath at a Time gives the reader “a handle and path and a reminder” of that connection. This meditation book was certainly the grab-bar I needed when my world was swirling with trauma vertigo.
My prayer for this book, as was with Saffron Cross and For Sabbath’s Sake, is that it gives the readers these tools. I once heard Glennon Doyle call this a “touch-tree.” When we feel lost, if we return to the tree (the tools), we’ll “never get too far gone.” When my shero, the great Barbara Brown Taylor called One Breath at a Time a “clear and doable invitation to be still with God,” I thought of Glennon’s wisdom.
This book is my touch-tree. It’s a snapshot of a life in need of repair and a gracious God who said, “Just listen, my dear.”
Thank you to the authors and Launch Team members who’ve gave their endorsements, time, and energy. They read and practiced, muddling through even when it was hard to share their honest experience with others.
Use these tools to make 2019 the best year yet. Find your handle, your path, your reminder, your touch-tree, and your clear and doable invitation to be still with God. May you, in turn, serve others, love deeply, and offer radical hospitality to a world in great need.
Keep it simple. Just turn inward for three minutes a day.
Praise for One Breath at a Time
Whether you are new to meditation, lapsed in your practice, or simply curious, you have found the right teacher. Dana Trent is not only wise about the ways in which our tech-driven lives are stunting our spiritual growth but also serious about offering us an invitation to be still with God for a few moments each day. The added bonus of her skepticism is that she knows how hard that can be–and why it remains essential for our soul’s health. —Barbara Brown Taylor, Author of Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others
Dana’s journey into contemplation is, to me, a sign of the times. As we reach for a still point in the turning world, meditation isn’t a flight from the world of action but a way of staying centered in the midst of it. One breath at a time, indeed. —Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Author of Reconstructing the Gospel
Dana Trent’s One Breath at a Time is powerful and instructive. Trent’s poignant words give us the practical guidance that we need to learn, practice, and grow, and she keeps us engaged in every step of the way. —Rev. Carol Howard Merritt, Author of Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with God After Experiencing a Hurtful Church