Looking For God In All The Wrong Places
Rev. Marie D. Jones
(Guest Reviewer - Millicent M. Savino)
2003 Paraview Press
ISBN: 1931044422

A humorous field guide to where our searches for the divine take us.

Guest Reviewer Millicent M. Savino writes:

It's rare to read a book on spirituality that has you laughing out loud, but that's exactly the effect Rev. Marie D. Jones' Looking For God In All The Wrong Places, will have on you. This author writes with such personal style & humor, you can't help but feel you're sitting & talking with her over a hot cup of tea.

The book explores the People, Places & Things we often mistake for our Higher Power, & the chapter titles & delightful song-inspired subtitles let you know immediately that nothing will be spared:
• They Really, Really Like Me!
• People Who Need People
• Do You Guru Too?
• That's What I Want
• Work Is a Four-Letter Word
• I'm Gonna Live Forever!
• God in a Gigabyte
• Pray Your Way Home
To name only a few!

Rev. Jones looks at our obsessions with money, sex, power & greed, & our willingness to hand over our power, our attention, & often our money to boot to celebrities & authority figures. She moves from the people we often worship in place of God, to the places we think we must go to find God, to the things we think will bring us fulfillment & happiness.

Looking For God In All The Wrong Places also offers wonderful tips & techniques for bringing our attention back to where God really is found, not easy to do in our busy, hectic lives. Jones uses personal experiences to really drive home her points, & her tone is breezy & fun, so you never feel lectured or talked down to, even as she is laying on the heavy stuff about the dangers of religious fanaticism, nationalism & addiction.

I found this book to be one of the few spiritual tomes on the marketplace that made me think & smile at the same time. It offers the fun, lightness of a Dr. Wayne Dyer book, with the intelligence of something more research-heavy, such as Deepak Chopra.

Long after I put it down, I found myself seeing so many of Rev. Jones' points being made clear over & over again in my daily life, & in the situations going on in the world. Turn on the TV & you will no doubt be reminded of so many of the examples the author presents. Her wisdom reaches inside & shakes you up, making you realize how many ways we all look outside ourselves for happiness, when it's always right there inside us all along.

Looking For God In All The Wrong Places is not a religious book, & it has no particular angle, so anyone of any persuasion can benefit greatly from the insights & experiences discussed in its pages.

I highly recommend Looking For God In All The Wrong Places to anyone on the rocky road to spiritual fulfillment. It is as good as having a Thomas Bros' map (West Coast city & county cartographers) to guide you to just where you need to go.

Marie Jones is a New Thought minister & a widely published writer of inspirational essays, gift books, short stories & magazine articles. She is also a screenwriter, & has produced a children's storybook video series for Gigglebug Farms Productions. she holds a Masters Degree in Metaphysical Studies & is a licensed pastoral counsellor.

[Editor: Millicent beat me to reviewing Marie Jones' deliciously irreverent & delectably insightful Looking For God In All The Wrong Places. The Rev. Jones has joined RebeccasiReads.com as an Associate Reviewer of religious & spiritual books]

Read Rebecca's Interview with this author.

(09/14/03)

Guest Reviewer - Millicent M. Savino
2003©Millicent M. Savino