Book Review: Fully Alive

God cares about all of me.

I know this with my head. Why is it so hard to convince the rest of me? One thing we understand here at The High Calling is that there is no line between the holy and the ordinary—God is in all. And yet, I continue to leave parts of me behind when it comes to spiritual health. When I neglect to care for certain parts of me, the impact of my life as a whole diminishes. And I live less than the abundant life that scripture promises.

The journey to understanding this truth is the content of best-selling author and motivational speaker Ken Davis’ new book Fully Alive: A Journey that Will Change Your Life. He starts the book with the story of how his granddaughter was lost while on a family trip to the mountains. The raw fear while she was being searched for and the wild relief when she was found proved a wake-up call for Davis. The experience sparked the beginning of his journey from mediocrity onto the path of living fully alive.

See, Ken Davis had settled. He’d reached a comfortable place in life—a place of success, a place where he wanted for little—and decided to stay there. The realization he came to was that while there is little pain in this kind of life…there is also little passion. In this “comfortable place,” Davis struggled with depression, was overweight, and carried a deep emptiness inside.

Ken Davis found out that staying in the comfort zone is not so comfortable. One day he saw a picture of himself and was appalled at what he saw. In public I made jokes about how I looked, he says, but the ugly truth was my physical state and appearance were outward evidence of inward decay.

A large part of the book is about how Davis took steps to reclaim his physical health and how this enriched his spiritual life.

A healthy body gives you the ability and stamina to keep moving ahead. It increases your mental sharpness and makes it possible for you to more effectively glorify God by living fully alive. I saw major changes in every facet of my life starting with the first ten pounds I lost…

Davis lost 60 pounds and says he is in better shape today at age 65 than he was at 35. No matter where you are physically, you’ll find his advice on reclaiming a healthy body inspiring.

But there is more to being fully alive than our physical health. Inspired by St. Irenaeus, who said, “God’s glory is the earth creature made fully and eternally alive with the life of the Spirit,” Davis resolved to live the rest of his life fully alive. He discovered the need to be deliberate in many areas on the road to holistic spiritual health. The importance of intimate friendships, using your unique giftedness to glorify God, dropping old baggage, the importance of forgiveness, and love…all of these need careful attention in a life lived to the full.

…We are physical, social, mental, and spiritual beings. To ignore any aspect of our humanity is to be only partially alive.

Davis gives practical steps and personal stories to illustrate how he made—and continues to make—change happen for a fuller life. In Fully Alive, Ken Davis reminds me that every aspect of living is holy.

Because God cares about all of me.

Maybe I should too.