Everyday Blessings by Aled Jones 

'Has the potential to inspire meaningful reflection - but don’t give up on the daily Bible reading notes'

Everyday Blessings 
By Aled Jones
Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN 978 1473 68276 4
Reviewed by Martin Poole 

Paul writes “let your gentleness be evident to all”* which characterises the temper of Aled’s book. It could be summed up as a very nice book penned by a very nice man.

Two themes are woven together in the writing. Firstly the spine of the book is 12 chapters, each devoted to exploring the theme of each of the calendar months. In January we are asked to look ahead to the new year with optimism while concluding in December with “the most wonderful time of the year”. It was here when Aled’s career took off with the haunting Snowman, but he confides with the reader that he thought this pivotal recording was originally for a 30 second advert for Toys R Us.

It is these seeming asides that make the book thoroughly entertaining to any Aled Jones fan or Songs of Praise viewer, and we are given little insights into Aled’s upbringing in North Wales, from conker enthusiast to his time as a chorister at Bangor Cathedral.

The other theme of the book covers 365 comments from a variety of very different sources with the aim that each day the simple quote is used as a steer for the day. It is here that any reviewer will struggle, as to read quotes designed for a whole year in a few days cannot reflect the potential benefit in the mind of a reader when that one thought lands on particular life situation.

Usefully Aled provides the name of the source of each quote, but as some will be unknown to the reader a one-line bio would have been helpful. Those better known names span a vast range of personages e.g  Mahatma Ghandhi, Muhammed Ali, Oprah Winfrey, Leo Tolstoy, John Lennon, Dalai Lama, Dr Seuss, New Testament writers Matthew and John, etc.

It is here that some Christians might struggle for Aled makes no secret of his strong Christian faith yet he essentially has a universalist perception of faith. For instance when tackling the month of April he gives first place to defining the events of Easter but then describes the Muslim festival of Ramadan, the Buddhist celebration of a new year, the Hindu festival of Navratri and even the non-religious Earth Day as other important celebrations seemingly on a par with Easter.

With the caveat that Aled writes as a universalist the book has the potential to inspire meaningful reflection but don’t give up on the daily Bible reading notes!
 

The Revd Martin Poole is a retired Baptist minister (Penarth, Godalming and Eastleigh Baptist Churches)

*Phil 4:5