The Way of the Wild Heart - Eldredge

"The Glory of God is man fully Alive." Saint Iranaeus

I have read a bunch of books from John Eldredge the past 10 years and for some reason this one, The Way of the Wild Heart: A Map for the Masculine Journey, caught my eye either at the library or on someone Else's blog. This past February I read this book and it was a healing process. It really is about the journey and stages boys and men take through life and then how to teach and train your own boys.

Reading surfaced some covered issues that have been in my life and give some good explanation on why, how and when I feel and act the way I do.

He identifies six stages in our journey: boyhood, cowboy, warrior, lover, king and sage. All of which I have areas to see develop in and also have seen scars and victories birthed in.

If you're a man, know men, are married to one, raise boys to men and just are flat out puzzled by men, read this. It grabbed my heart and gave some good explanation to my fears in my own masculine journey.

I came across some good quotes of others there and his own stuck deep down in my soul:

• "Worship is the primary means by which we immerse ourselves in the rhythms and stories of our creator...the way people stay in rhythm with their creation, finding their place in it, (knowing) who they are and where they've come from, internalizing the creation cadences of God who made heaven and earth." Eugene Peterson
• "A lover comes to offer his strength to a woman, not to get it from her." p.?
• "Service to God is over shadowed by intimacy with God." p.?
• "God is a God of process." p.?
• "An Adventure is, by its nature, a thing that comes to us. It is a thing that chooses us, not a thing that we choose." How we respond to that adventure shapes us into the men we become." Eldredge quoting Chesterton p. 125

He also gives some good counsel for the battlefield of our souls

1. One battle at a time
2. Fight your battles once
3. During any important event, assume it's warfare
4. Resist it quickly
5. You wont feel like a warrior
6. Stay with it
7. It will make you holy

• "Are you willing to let go of your insistence to control, meaning, to allow for a life that exists beyond the realm of analysis, to let some portions of your life be impractical, to cease evaluating all things based on their utility and function? Coming closer to the heart, are you willing to let passion rise in you, though undoubtedly it may unnerve you? To permit the healing of some of your deepest wounds? Are you willing, at some level, to be undone?" p. 206,7
• "This is what a good king does--he uses all he has to make his kingdom like the kingdom of Heaven for the sake of the people who live under his rule." p.225
• "The truth is, either we choose it (humility) for ourselves, or our Father will arrange to have us humbled. For me, I'd prefer to forgo those moments if possible. I'd much rather choose the humble heart." p.247

Categories: Books, God, Masculinity