Ordering Your Private World

Rating:
Summary: Simple advice: don't read it if you can't take it
Review: Gordon's book is written from the perspective of someone who has learned along the way, made mistakes and is just reaching out to help others from falling into that same trap. With personal memos to the disorganized, you feel that there's actually practical advice you can use. Unlike a book that'll make you feel like a complete mess, and your life is sinking in a pit of activity and chaos, you feel like you can actually see the light at the end of your tunnel. I must warn you however, don't read this book simply for information, and don't read it too fast - it can really stimulate life change, as it has changed mine. This book tells us that to have an ordered public life, we must have a Christ directed inner world that governs that public life. If there were more stars I'd give it more.

Rating:
Summary: Too postmodern, disconnected from biblical truths
Review: I received my first edition Ordering Your Private World (OPW) in 1985, as an undergraduate. I didn't really like the touchy-feely style of presentation, without any corroborrating references, for example, to the author's science of sleep minimization nor a biblically developed case for journaling. I remain puzzled on many points in the book. Contrary to the author's position, the psalmist tells us that "God grants sleep to those He loves". While journaling can be a productive discipline, could it also lead to indulgent self-absorption? And if the journal is a private work, why would it be a treasure to posterity?

As I realize that the author's life could be construed as fairly disordered, at least from several direct observations I've had of him failing to keep his commitments (from the time of his original OPW to the time of this new edition), I feel less discomfort in providing a less than enthusiastic review. During my recent move to a new home, I decided to discard a box of "low-utility" books. Without reticence, I included my old copy of OPW in the junk box. How ironic, perhaps even Spirit guided, my consternation when the current OPW was required reading for an upcoming leadership course, and I had to further donate to the author's estate given how I remembered the first edition. Perhaps that cost could be redeemed by this feedback.

A basic issue for many christians is living the "driven vs. called" life. I believe that the book will be more convicting to those who are driven, because they may experience some empathy with and conviction from the author, who himself is an admitted driven personality. For such a reader, I can only conclude that replacing the drivenness to succeed with a pursuit of God's calling can only expand His creative purpose and kingdom.

I believe that the author is a fellow believer of Jesus Christ, and has been redeemed by God for His purpose. I suspect that I am as much as a sinner as he is, but I'm not the one peddling orderly life advice. Now that I have now read the latest edition, I am still recommending that this probably is not worth your time or money.

Rating:
Summary: Homophobic and convoluted
Review: McDonald's book is one I reread every January. It puts me back on the track of ordering my life again after the chaos of the holidays. If you have a tendency to procrastinate, to overload your calendar, or you easily lose sight of how to structure your time, this book will be the greatest gift (if you take the time to read it) you ever give yourself.

One of the more profound things McDonald addresses in his book is being honest enough to say you can't be all things to all people. In fact, he cites examples in the Bible to say that it should never be our goal. "Called people know exactly who they are not," McDonald says. There is freedom in those words for the person who thinks he or she must do everything. He uses John the Baptist as an example. When John is asked in Scripture who he is, he says he is not Christ. McDonald says, "Knowing who he was not was the beginning of knowing who he was." John knew the role of his life and ministry and because of it, was able to do his job of acting as "forerunner to Christ."

Through a chapter by chapter study guide at the back of the book written by Leslie H. Stobbe, the reader can examine his or her life by answering questions. In many ways, I found the study guide's questions sent me on a journal experience as I read the scriptures suggested. The study guide is gentle, yet you can go as indepth as you want to.

What I also like about McDonald's advice is that he truly gives examples of how to order your world. How to order your office, create files, etc. that really will simplify your life. He doesn't pulpitize the reader, rather he provides examples from his own life where he failed too and how he was able to change.

Buy this book and change your life. This will not be a book you put on your shelf or bury in your nightstand drawer. This will be a book that you will underline in, write in, and use as a resource to keep you on the track of succeeding in organizing your private world.

Rating:
Summary: The best, on managing your life
Review: Of the many self-help books I have read, this stands at the top. To NOT read this book is to forgo an absolutely unique source of practical advice from a profoundly wise man.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Thought-Provoking Book!
Review: Ordering Your Private World will challenge you to think and evaluate the direction of your life and how easily you let outward circumstances disturb your inner life.

Among the principles MacDonald covers are:

1. Busyness is not always of God.
2. Driven people focus on the external while ignoring the private world.
3. We must not let busyness upset us or cause us to neglect the inner life.
4. The importance of solitude and time alone with God.
5. Jesus used His time wisely.
6. The characteristics of a called person.
7. Specific steps and encouragement to discipline the mind.
8. The importance of prayer and intercession for others.

Be encouraged and challenged to evaluate your relationship with God and see what happens!

All in all, a highly recommended read!

Rating:
Summary: Life-changing book that you will want to read again & again
Review: Other than the Bible, Ordering Your Private World has been the most influential book on my life and I read it (or reread favorite parts) at least once per year. All five sections of this book have influenced my life for the better: motivation, use of time, wisdom and knowledge, spiritual strength, and restoration. MacDonald starts out by dealing with our motivation in how we use our time. He contrasts the life of the driven person with the life of the person who is called - and share distinct things about their life that you will notice. For example, a driven person is preoccupied with acquiring the symbols of accomplishment - while the called person focuses on good stewardship of what they have. Once MacDonald deals with the differences between being driven & called, he deals with the use of time and shares some symptoms of poor time management. One of the most practical sections of the book, "MacDonald's Laws of Unseized Time" follows these symptoms - as the reader is shown how to budget their time for good use. Once that you see how to recapture the use of your time and control it - Gordon then discusses the last three sections - on wisdom and knowledge, spiritual strength, and restoration. One of my favorite parts of this book - are the memos that are at the beginning of every chapter. I will close with this one: "If my private world is in order, it will be because I am convinced that the inner world of the spiritual must govern the outer world of activity."

Rating:
Summary: Encouragement and stimulation toward ongoing growth
Review: Recently, I was reading Bill Hybels' Too Busy Not To Pray. In it he referred to this book as the source of some ideas about how to journal without spending hours each day at it. Since I'm not naturally a journaler, but I do see the benefits of journaling, I picked up this book to see what MacDonald had to say about it. I found an entire book of stimulating ideas.

MacDonald draws a compelling analogy for people who do not spend time developing their inner resources: they're like sinkholes. A sinkhole is a geologic phenomenon that occurs when the water table is being depleted. On the surface, everything looks OK, until a point of depletion is reached where the surface is no longer sustainable; it collapses into the emptiness beneath. Likewise, a person who goes through life without attending to their inner life will find that when difficult times strike, they will not have the inner strength to respond. They will collapse -- emotionally, physically, and/or relationally.

He then goes on to talk about how to develop our inner strength. He starts by talking about living as a called person, not a driven person. How can you tell which you are? He gives some guidelines (for example, #1: A driven person is most often gratified only by accomplishment. #6: Driven people tend to be highly competitive. #8: Driven people are often abnormally busy) and talks about how to live as a called person. He talks about using our time wisely by "seizing" it and talks about what happens when we don't. MacDonald's law of unseized time #3 says "Unseized time surrenders to the demands of all emergencies." The book has some good suggestions, not new to most of us who have studied time management, but a good refresher and motivator nonetheless.

The section that I most enjoyed, and one that discusses an issue I've never seen discussed in Christian writings, is the importance of developing our intellectual capacity. He describes what happens when a person is a "fast starter" in life and unwittingly learns to coast on his/her abilities. He challenges us to read widely, not just Christian literature. When is the last time you read a book you disagreed with, and read it all the way through? He talks about other ways we grow intellectually all through our life: by being interested in others' lives, by being good listeners, "aggressive" listeners, by listening to our critics, by keeping a pen at hand when we're reading to record thoughts that strike us or that we would like to share with others, and more generally to keep a pen at hand at all times so we can record things that seem significant -- at church, at meetings, during offhand conversations. In other words, journaling isn't just recording daily activities, prayers, and answers to prayer, as I had originally conceived it.

His next section is entitled "Spiritual Strength", and in it he speaks of the disciplines. He talks of the risk of losing certain privileges if we become undisciplined. For example, "we will never learn to enjoy the eternal and infinite perspective on reality that we were created to have." "We will lack a vital, life-giving friendship with Christ." We "will lose .. the fear of accountability to God." "We "lose the awareness of our real size in comparison to the Creator. And conversely, we forget our specialness and value before Him as His sons and daughters." Finally, "we have little reserve or resolve for crisis moments such as failure, humiliation, suffering, the death of a loved one, or loneliness."

On journal keeping: "As I write, I am aware that what I am writing may actually be what God wants to tell me. I dare to presume that His Spirit is often operative in the things I am choosing to think about and record. And it becomes important to search my heart to see what conclusions He may be engendering, what matters He wishes to remind me about, what themes He hopes to stamp upon my private world." "As I write on consecutive pages of the journal, I also write from the back page toward the front. The back pages hold my list of people and concerns that I have chosen to make a matter of intercessory prayer... Then, continuing to work from the back pages toward the center of the journal, I often put in excerpts from my current reading that particularly impress me. Often, I will take time to simply read through many of these brief paragraphs. They may be prayers, reflective comments from the writings of people like St. Thomas, A.W. Tozer, and Amy Carmichael, or portions of scripture."

I could continue to excerpt wonderful passages from this book, but I hope I have shown you just enough to inspire you to pick the book up and read it. Throughout the book, MacDonald tells stories of people whose lives demonstrate the principles he is discussing. I found the book most engaging and never boring. I am stimulated to read it again ... this time with pen in hand!

Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: This book changed my life - it targeted areas that I and many others I know could use much help in. The author does a great job showing the reader why many have great lives on the outside (money, family, success, etc) but feel that something is missing on the inside. I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels they are building their life on a foundation of sand, but want to know what to do to build on solid rock.

Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: This book changed my life - it targeted areas that I and many others I know could use much help in. The author does a great job showing the reader why many have great lives on the outside (money, family, success, etc) but feel that something is missing on the inside. I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels they are building their life on a foundation of sand, but want to know what to do to build on solid rock.