The Secret Things of God

Based on a book by psychologist Henry Cloud, The Secret Things of God is a persuasive seminar in which the genial Cloud and others talk about acquiring true happiness, maximizing relationships, utilizing talents and skills, and enhancing one's spiritual life. Seek God, says Cloud, and He will show up—though usually not in the way one expects or hopes (God often answers prayers with silence or greater darkness or woe, in order that people—according to Cloud—will more fully appreciate their abilities to shape their own destinies once solutions finally arrive). One can't have Easter, maintains a clergyman (one of several commentators here, including popular psychiatrist Dr. Drew Pinsky), without going through the sufferings of Good Friday. Elsewhere, Cloud applies the same wisdom about experience-based growth to issues of trust (which comes when one is vulnerable and open to love); happiness (there is no such thing as being happy and disconnected from others); relationships (good ones come from having the skills to produce them, e.g., learning to listen and validate before doing anything else); and finding God (a good life does not depend on favorable circumstances, but rather one's relationship to others and God). While many will find these observations to be fairly basic, others may take inspiration from them. Recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)