Special offer: The Teacher: A Simple Guide to Daily Life
If you enjoy my books, my prayers, my writing, there is one book, in particular, I would point you towards; namely The Teacher: A Simple Guide to Daily Life. If you buy it I am confident you will feel it was worth doing so, and that the material there will not only gladden your heart, but also challenge and inspire you. Unfortunately, the format chosen for the publication of the book was that of a hardback gift book, which, at £14.99, is a little expensive, but from now until Christmas, at my personal request, the price has been reduced to £10.99, a saving of four pounds and an opportunity not to be missed.
The book can be used in various ways, not least as a study book for group sessions, inviting participants to reflect on and discuss the implications of the many verses quoted. Essentially, The Teacher offers a window into the wonderful world of Old Testament wisdom literature, exemplified in the biblical books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job and the Psalms. It is verses from these (each referenced at the back of the book) that form the backbone of the material.
It can also be used for personal devotions, each session – which is framed as a conversation between someone seeking instruction and the Teacher (the name given in the Old Testament to King Solomon) – offering a reflection on aspects of daily life, and each firmly rooted in biblical texts offering guidance on the issue concerned.
Perhaps most of all, the book offers a great opportunity to introduce friends and colleagues to the Christian message without in any way forcing it down their throats. Some years before he died, Kevin Mayhew talked to me about the urgent need to communicate more effectively with people outside of the Church, many of whom are sympathetic to what is often loosely termed ‘spirituality’ but who, for a host of reasons, feel alienated from mainstream religion. This was a concern that Kevin felt passionately about, as I do too. It is tragic that many who might otherwise be sympathetic to Christianity, instead feel estranged from it. The Teacher, along with my more recent book Seize the Day, represents an attempt to address this situation, talking of the things of God in jargon-free language but in a way that will move, encourage, question and nurture. It would make an ideal Christmas present.
If you’ve not read The Teacher, or perhaps felt it’s not a book for you, I’d urge you to reconsider. It’s not only one of my favourite books but also, I believe, potentially, one of my most important.
Here’s one of the sessions from the book, to give you a flavour as to its contents:
Happiness
I saw a child giggling joyfully, a couple laughing as they shared a joke, a woman smiling gently at her partner, a man beaming in delight.
And my thoughts turned to happiness.
‘Why do some always seem happy,’ I asked, ‘but others not?’
And the Teacher answered, ‘Those who are miserable in attitude will be miserable in life, but the happy in spirit will feast continually.’
I saw then that happiness breeds happiness, and joy, joy; that to greet the world with a smile prompts the world to smile back.
‘But how do we cultivate this happiness?’ I asked. ‘Whence does it come, and how do we attain it?’
And the Teacher answered, ‘Happy are those who find wisdom and acquire understanding, for wisdom profits more than silver, and brings gain better even than gold. To those who grasp her she is a tree of life, and whoever embraces her will discover the secret of happiness.’
And I understood that true happiness lies not in what we have but in what we have understood; in discerning the beauty in the ugliness of life, the good in the evil, the special in the ordinary; in living each day, each moment, for what it is.
I saw also that happiness cannot be measured in terms of pounds and pence, prestige or possessions; that it cannot be owned but is a gift held in trust, a feast to be savoured rather than a commodity to be stored. And I saw that if we attempt to hoard it, its beauty will fade like that of a meadow flower, here today and gone tomorrow. It is a fountain from which we must drink afresh each day, and if we seek instead to fill our bottle and carry it with us, it will bring sorrow rather than joy, pain rather than pleasure – the bitterness of loss and ache of nostalgia.
I saw too that true happiness comes not through keeping it to ourselves but through sharing it with others; that a joy shared is a joy multiplied, but a joy jealously guarded is a joy already tarnished.
The lesson I have learnt is this: if you would find happiness, seek it first in yourself, for if you discover it there you will know it everywhere. And truly, instead of you searching for it, it then will find you.