The One Year Experiencing God's Love Devotional - Sandra Byrd
Devotionals, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, are like a box of chocolates. Sometimes you get one that is super sweet and a bit sickly. Sometimes you get one that takes a bit of chewing to get through. And depending on your taste, you can sometimes find one that ticks all the right boxes, really satisfying your palate. Often, a single devotional will have days in it that get the flavour combination better than others, days that really speak to your soul (as only the best chocolate can), while others ever-so-slightly miss the mark.
Yet, a good quality box of chocolates will still be strong even when you find those slightly 'lesser' flavours. You can still appreciate the quality, flavour and craftsmanship that went into that coconut rough, and you eat it happily, knowing that tomorrow you'll get that salted caramel you were secretly hoping for.
On the other hand, sometimes you get an experimental chocolate box. You know, the limited edition ones, where some of the flavours are creative, unexpected, and in many ways, a bit confusing. And you appreciate the originality, but you're not sure that those chocolates would ever be successful if they were sold individually. And even some of their regular flavours are ones that you find yourself leaving until last, hoping perhaps that a strange relative will turn up and take it off your hands.
I'm looking at you, Cherry Ripe.
The One Year Experiencing God's Love Devotional by Sandra Byrd feels like one of those experimental chocolate boxes, albeit one that has a few really strong chocolates scattered throughout it.
The range in this devotional is way wider than your average devotional. There were some days that were quite challenging and thought provoking, and even a few occasions where Byrd would say something in a way that I appreciated enough to quote in a sermon. I want to stress that before I carry on; Sandra Byrd has some great insights, she is obviously a talented writer, and she also obviously loves the Lord. There were other days that we finished the devotional for the day and thought, 'Oh, yeah, I guess that's good to remember.' Not as powerfully insightful, but perhaps one of your average devotional Cherry Ripes.
Then there were days where the vast majority of the entry was a recipe.
That is not a joke.
A recipe.
Now, maybe these recipes are amazing. So far Elise and I haven't tried one, and admittedly, some of them sound nice. But getting a recipe when you are hoping for a devotional to get you through the day is a little like ordering a steak and getting an encyclopaedia. I appreciate a good encyclopaedia. At times, I will make use of an encyclopaedia. But if I'm after a steak, then I'm going to be very unimpressed, even if the encyclopaedia is brought to the dinner-table with a little bit of garnish and some barbecue sauce as a side.
It does seem as though I'm not the target market for this devotional. Byrd's narration generally feels aimed at more mature Christian women, and perhaps they would enjoy a recipe-laden devotional to expand their culinary repertoire whilst also pointing them to the Master Chef on high...
But overall, and despite the occasional winner, this is a devotional selection that neither Elise nor I will be revisiting any time soon.
Completed with Elise, 31 December 2024.
(Elise Books)
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