A Sacred Primer: The Essential Guide to Quiet Time and Prayer - Softcover

Without a specific religion to provide structure and offer guidance, it is difficult to create a spiritual discipline much less practice one. Even those who go to church and synagogue appreciate suggestions as to how they can help their spirituality overlap with their everyday existence. Responding to this longing, Elizabeth Neeld offers a primer--packed with ideas and inspirational recommendations for creating stillness and soul-tending devotion in daily living. Although the intention is not a new one--plenty of authors have cashed in on the "everyday sacred" premise--Neeld's suggestions are original and eloquent, and reflect years of research rather than a whimsical, hot-selling idea. Chapters include "Encouraging a Spiritual Attitude," "Experiencing the Sacred," "Praying with Words," and "Surviving the Windstorms." At the end of each chapter, Neeld suggests specific tasks for helping the human more easily meet the divine. --Gail Hudson

For two decades Elizabeth Harper Neeld has researched, written, spoken, and consulted about the possibilities of living a centered, balanced life. She is the author/editor of twenty books, including Seven Choices:  Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World, which was featured in the PBS programs “The Challenge of Grief” and “Seven Choices for Healing Your Grieving Heart” and was chosen by the American Red Cross to be given to the families of 9/11. 

Formerly Professor of English and Assistant to the President at Texas A&M University, she is a corporate consultant to Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies in the field of change management, lecturing in the U. S. and internationally. 

Neeld teaches spiritual seminars, retreats, and days of prayer.  Previously the lay director of The Women’s Retreat Ministry at the First United Methodist Church, Houston, Texas, she now serves as chair of the Adult Christian Formation Commission at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas.  She lives in Austin with her husband Jerele. She may be contacted at www.elizabethharperneeld.com.