In The Making of an Ordinary Saint: My Journey from Frustration to Joy with the Spiritual Disciplines (Baker Books), Nathan Foster handles his \u201cI\u201d\u009d with a good deal of grace. On the brink of an existential crisis, Foster (a social worker) forswears buying a red convertible, deciding instead to \u201cgo saint.\u201d\u009d What he envisions as a yearlong experiment with the 12 spiritual disciplines introduced by his father, Richard Foster, in the classic 1978 book Celebration of Discipline, turns into four. In the process, his efforts at spiritual practice travel the distance from \u201cfrustration to joy.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
In the opening chapter, \u201cSubmission,\u201d\u009d Foster introduces us to \u201cdrafting,\u201d\u009d and it becomes an apt metaphor for the book. \u201cDrafting,\u201d\u009d he writes, \u201cis when two or more cyclists ride inches behind each other, creating a sort of wind tunnel.\u201d\u009d On a grueling 224-mile ride\u201d\u201dwhen \u201cMother Nature brooded from every direction, wobbling my flimsy cycle back and forth\u201d\u009d\u201d\u201dFoster abandons his hesitations about riding so closely in a group and submits himself to the \u201cboredom of the paceline.\u201d\u009d Although he didn\u2019t \u201cexpect to find a way to actively practice a spiritual discipline in the windy, scorched Ohio farmland,\u201d\u009d spiritual practices keep finding Foster in unexpected places.<\/p>\n
With the exception of having a famous father, Foster is as \u201cordinary\u201d\u009d as the book\u2019s title suggests, and readers draft behind him in recognizable winds: the challenges of marriage and parenting, career ambitions (and jealousies), self-doubt, accumulated regrets.<\/p>\n