Literary Inspiration...

I have been reading a new book, Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott,  and have been touched by some of the quotes in it.

"See, sometimes, if you're lucky, you get to a point where you're sick of a problem, or worn down by tinkering with it, or clutching to it. And letting it go, maybe writing it down and sending it away, buys you some time and space, so maybe freedom and humor sneak in -- which is probably what you were praying for all along." 

Goodness gracious, how true and how powerful!

"These are the words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper and that I danced."


I'd add one more: that I thought with my heart. It's one of my biggest strengths and biggest weaknesses, but it is who I am.

"Perhaps everything terrible is, in its deepest being, something that needs our love."


I believe this 2,000,000 percent.

I'm so grateful for the ability of other's words to touch my heart. Reading is such a gift!

What books/quotes from books have spoken to you? I'd love to hear them! 

Expectancy v Expectation

I was reading The Shack last night (again, I know) and I was particulary struck by a discussion of expectancy versus expectation. The excerpt was specifically in reference to friendship and how when we put expectations upon one another, we begin to live in the "noun" format, with laws and rules. When we live in expectancy, however, we are in the "verb" format, in a dynamic relationship that can grow and change without expecation and law being placed upon it.

Whoa... I LOVE THAT. I can think of several friendships I place expectation upon. I only end up disappointed and the person had no idea he was even doing anything wrong! I must must must learn to live in the verb format. In expectancy.

If I could make every student coming into college read a book, it would be the Shack. (I know that would never fly, but it would be sooo much better than whatever book I had to read about the army...)

Love and relationship over power and hierarchy. Expectancy not expecatation.

BRILLIANT.

Lovelovelove!

Literary Inspiration

For those that know me, you've heard me talk incessantly (not that this is rare) about the book, "The Shack." Most books I fall in love with, I fall in love with more for the writing than for the story. Example, "The Great Gatsby". The Great Gatsby is without a doubt my favorite book of all time. Yet, I really could do without the story. Sure, there's the whole "American Dream" thing that's nice to read about, but in reality, the story is lacking. The Great Gatsby remains my favorite book, however, because of the writing. I get chills just thinking about the writing in that book. The way F. Scott Fitzgerald can make a moment stand out is unlike any other author I have ever read. I will never forget that "men and girls came and went like moths, among the whispering and the champagne and the stars." The plot itself is relatively irrelevant; people come and go from parties all the time. And that is what I believe makes the mark of a good writer - the ability to make the ordinary seem extraordinary, the mundane, magical.

I am currently on my second reading of "The Shack." It will still go down as a book that changed my life, but I find neither the plot nor the writing remarkable. "The Shack" is a book that speaks volumes, but in the most simple and peaceful way. When a book is able to have a physical effect on someone, it transcends the category of literature and ventures into the world of therapy. In my second reading of the "The Shack," I am less concerned with the plot and in turn am able to resign to the peace that this book brings. While I am normally a lover of literature for the sake of the writing, this book has proven to me that some literature serves a greater purpose.