Her struggle is one keenly felt in today's intensely pressured and time-starved world: how can we experience our lives fully in whatever we are doing at the moment ? whether cleaning the kitchen, faced with a situation that frustrates us, or momentarily exhilarated by some new fortune that's befallen us. Inspired by the image of the empty ?begging bowl? that Zen monks would start each day with to solicit enough food to nourish and sustain them, Bender discovers for herself ? and shows us in the process ? how to find that which is ?just enough? to fill our lives each day. The lessons along Bender's path of ?doubt and hope? reveal that each step is a place to learn and that ?we can seek the sacred everywhere ? in our homes, in our daily activities, and hardest to see, in ourselves?.

When Sue Bender proudly announced to a friend that her first book, Plain and Simple had made it to the New York Times bestseller list, her friend immediately shot back, "But what number on the list are you?" Bender was shocked, realizing that nothing we accomplish seems like enough in our overly pressured world. In Everyday Sacred we follow Bender on her quest to make every moment enough. Cleaning a desk, sipping cappuccino, making computer connections, and appreciating freshly painted walls all become opportunities to satiate one's life with sacred encounters. The end product reads like an Amish quilt--simple vignettes sewn together to create a comfortable lifetime companion.

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