While Swans Fly and Herons Wait

In December 2009, Sarah Dickinson was in a car accident with her family which left her then seventeen-year-old son paralysed.

The book begins with this devastating event. However,it goes on to introduce the reader to the blessings of contemplative prayer. Through her story, Sarah invites the reader to understand how this practice laid the foundations of a relationship with God that allowed her to work through what happened that tragic morning, yet still be able to declare “God is good”.

This is a practical book about contemplative prayer. It takes the reader through what it is and how to do it with opportunities to practise it. The whole is drilled down into Sarah’s lived experience. It is based on the confidence that comes from knowing first hand that contemplative prayer has much that it can offer to our Christian walk and is not just for the ‘holy few’, but for the many.

Sarah Dickinson is an elder in the Church of Scotland.She has been leading contemplative prayer groups and retreats since 2003. This is her first book.