Review of "Jesus' Vision for Your One Wild and Precious Life" (2023) by Mike Graves

Reviewed by Leroy Seat

This book was a delight to read and a joy to review. It is also a pleasure to recommend Mike Graves’s book to all who are Christian believers, whether lay or clergy, and to those who are interested in learning more about Jesus and his vision for human flourishing. There is much in this book for all to read and ponder.

Graves (b. 1957) taught at three theological seminaries in Kansas City: Midwestern Baptist in Missouri when that institution was still a theologically moderate school, Central Baptist across the border in Kansas, and then back in Mo. at Saint Paul School of Theology, a Methodist institution. Retiring after being a professor for thirty years, since 2018 he has been serving as “Scholar in Residence” at Country Club Christian Church in the same city. 

Despite his close association with three major Protestant denominations, the title of Graves’s book comes from American poet Mary Oliver, who was quite spiritual but not religious. Her short poem, “The Summer Day” (1990), ends with these words: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / With your one wild and precious life?” Graves introduces these lines from poet Oliver in the engaging sixteen-page introduction and refers to them again in a later chapter. And each of the seven chapters, before the closing “Reflections,” ends with a section titled “Wild and Precious Dreaming.”

From the beginning of that introductory chapter, Graves emphasizes that Jesus was born into this world not primarily to die, although that has often been a major focus of Christian belief and preaching. Rather, the author asserts that “Jesus wasn’t born just to die, and neither were we (4). In the first paragraph of the Conclusion, then, Graves reiterates this point: “Jesus didn’t come to die. He came to live, and….the life he lived can be a model for us on how to live before we die” (159).

For a long time in word and song, there has been emphasis on the “seven last words” of Jesus. But Graves focuses on Jesus’ “seven first words.” Well, not literally the seven first words but what the author reframes as “seven essential sayings of Jesus,” considered in the book’s seven chapters. The titles of those chapters sum up those words/sayings: “Follow Me,” “Good News to the Poor,” “Blessed Are the…,” “You Give Them Something to Eat,” “Your Faith Has Made You Well,” and “Love of God and Neighbor.” These are all familiar words, but the author explains them in insightful ways.

As might be expected from a professor of preaching, as Graves was for 30 years, his book is engagingly written and accessible to lay readers and not just to members of the clergy or to scholars such as he. He does, however, cite many scholarly books as well as books written more for the general public, and two aspects of those citations are impressive. First, most of the books cited were published after 2000 and are not the books that he studied as he was working on his Ph.D., which he received in 1988. Several of the books cited were published in 2023, which is rather remarkable. (It was also quite remarkable that he referred to his recent trip to Israel/Palestine, which concluded on Sept. 15, 2023).

Then, it is also notable that so many of the books referenced were written by female authors; for so long, theology books were mostly a male domain. At the end of the book in the list titled “For Further Reading,” eleven of the 24 books mentioned were written by women. (And four of the 24 were published in 2023.)

The “Reflections” at the end of each chapter are six or seven short paragraphs with questions that would lead to meaningful discussions for a group who had read/studied the book for the purpose of sharing and learning from other group members. Indeed, this would be an excellent book for a class to study over 9~10 Sundays or by a small group meeting monthly. (The meaty “Introduction” and “Conclusion” would make for profitable discussion as well as each of the seven chapters.)

In these troublesome times in which we live, Graves draws valuable lessons from Jesus for how we can live with delight daily as well as engage in meaningful service to suffering neighbors, both near and far. In doing so, he cites the words of E.B. White that express the stance of the author for himself and his desire for all of us readers: “I arise in the morning torn by a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world.” But this dual desire is a bit problematic, for White continues, “This makes it hard to plan the day” (77).

The writer hopes that many of you readers of this review will plan to read and ponder Mike Graves’s superlative book, even though doing so might complicate making your daily plans.