{"id":1542,"date":"2011-10-14T10:54:31","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T14:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flunkingsainthood\/?p=1542"},"modified":"2011-10-13T19:55:21","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T23:55:21","slug":"flunking-sainthood-now-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flunkingsainthood\/2011\/10\/flunking-sainthood-now-available.html","title":{"rendered":"“Flunking Sainthood” Now Available"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I never thought I would write a memoir, and still maintain that no one ever should. There are far too many memoirs published already. But … well, there it is. I wrote one, and it’s out this week<\/a>. I hope it is funny, and insightful, and honest, and all the things I look for from the authors I admire. You be the judge, and let me know.<\/p>\n

The book is the product of my failures at twelve different spiritual practices, including mindfulness (what does that even mean<\/em>, anyway?), fixed-hour prayer, fasting, an Orthodox Jewish Sabbath, financial generosity, and others. If you’ve ever felt like you are flunking sainthood — that you think you might love God but don’t quite measure up to the standards you set for yourself — then we are probably kindred spirits.<\/p>\n

The book was featured in a lovely story in USA Today<\/a> yesterday about religion and humor. The underlying question is always: Can God take a joke?<\/p>\n

I’m counting on it.<\/p>\n

I’ll post some over the coming weeks about book events, but I don’t want my blog to devolve into being about me, me, me. I hate that. So here’s a working schedule of the next few weeks:<\/p>\n