We know that quiet is an essential aspect of the spiritual life, that we need to leave the craziness of our hurried and frenzied lives and find the deep peace of being in God’s presence. But in our busy lives of deadlines and distractions, of screens at work and at play, this seems abstract and impossible.

David Loughney and Bob Robinson welcomes Sarah Clarkson to the podcast. She writes regularly about literature, faith, and beauty. Check out her Substack, From the Vicarge, where she writes about “suffering and beauty, theodicy and theology, imagination and the luminous grace of real, disciplined wonder.”

Her latest book is Reclaiming Quiet: Cultivating a Life of Holy Attention (Baker, 2024). In it, she tells her story of trying to overcome anxiety and hurry by cultivating a life of holy attention, an inner quiet of paying attention to God in the everyday aspects of life.

Scroll down to learn more about Sarah Clarkson.

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Sarah Clarkson

Sarah loves reading many novels, listening to a great deal of music, and drinking as many cups of coffee and tea as she can get away with in a day. She’s married to Thomas, a priest in the Church of England, and they have four children, Lilian, Samuel, Lucie, and Elanor. They live in (and she does her writing from) an old English vicarage in Oxford.

Sarah Clarkson on Instagram.

Sarah has also authored This Beautiful Truth: How God's Goodness Breaks into Our Darkness (Baker, 2021), Book Girl: A Journey through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life (Tyndale Momentum, 2018), and The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming (Tyndale Momentum, 2016).

Sarah’s books can be purchased from independent booksellers Byron and Beth Borger at Hearts & Minds Bookstore. Go to their secure order form, mention you heard about Sarah’s books on the Reintegrate Podcast, and receive 20% off your order! If you have questions or need more information, contact Byron here. Or call Beth and Byron at 717-246-3333.

Get full access to Bob Robinson’s Substack at bobrobinsonre.substack.com/subscribe