Ancient Faith Book Review: Journeying through Lent with "Tending the Garden of Our Hearts"

I follow the work of several Western Christian writers and speakers, and they often reference doing daily devotionals as a family. While I know that there are many devotional books available from Western sources, I am not aware of many such Orthodox Christian resources. So I was delighted to learn that Elissa Bjeletich and Kristina Wenger had created Tending the Garden of Our Hearts: Family Meditations for Great Lent. This book, releasing through Ancient Faith Publishing, comes out February 5th (just over a month before Orthodox Lent begins).

Reading Tending the Garden has brought me great joy, and, as a result, I have already begun getting excited for Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha (the Resurrection).

Before I began reading, I wondered if the writing style would feel more geared toward children and not as useful for adults. However, I quickly found myself encountering new, helpful ways of thinking about Orthodox ideas. The writing style felt accessible to children, but not off-putting to adults. I think the book will work equally great as a daily Lenten devotional for my family now, when we're adults only, and with kids in the future.

In the book, the weeks of Great Lent are organized into themes. I often wondered how authors Elissa and Kristina came up with so many well-thought-out topics to connect with each theme. For example, they mention a number of saints that I knew little or nothing about, such as Elder Dobri. He is described in the fourth week of Lent, which focuses on the Cross and the ways that different people have taken up their cross and followed Christ (Matt. 16:24).

Elder Dobri was a Bulgarian who fell asleep in the Lord just last year. This very humble man lived a simple life of holiness. In his nineties, he spent much of his time begging on the street outside of a cathedral in Sofia, the capital city. People later learned that the money Elder Dobri collected all went to several different churches to fund their restoration. He himself was living in a small building in the churchyard of his native village, where he slept on the floor and ate very little. And, when he wasn't collecting money, he was helping with repair work on the church where he lived. People recognized Elder Dobri's holiness because "he simply radiated kindness and meekness and love.... When people put some money into his cup, he would give them a loving look and thank them for their charity" (pg. 132).

I love reading about saints like this--people who, in our ordinary world, found ways to embrace the love of God and pour it out to others. Some of the other saints discussed in the book include St. Xenia of St. Petersburg, St. Constantine the Great, Mother Maria of Paris, and St. John of the Ladder. The rich diversity encourages readers to consider what their own unique path to holiness might be, recognizing that God has unique plans for each of us that won't be exactly like anyone else's life story. And, really, the whole purpose of "tending the garden of our hearts" is to seek holiness in our lives, to learn to become channels of God's love into the world.

So I am resoundingly recommending this wonderful new book from Ancient Faith Publishing, with much gratitude to the authors for their excellent, whole-hearted work, which will bless many families this Lent and in the years to come.