Small Victories

"Small Victories" by Anne Lamott

This is the second book I've read by Anne, while a little unconvential I do appreciate her candor and honesty.  This book is about "spotting improbable moments of grace".  This seems to be a running theme in the last few books that I've read, finding grace in the moments that seem like there is not a bit of it.  Life is hard, and messy, and painful, and full of grace and wonder and joy.  It's how we choose to look at things, and choosing is the hard part.  "I didn't know that wounds and scars were what we find welcoming, because they are like ours."  Wounds and scars are what draw us to others, knowing they have been through hardship and come out the other side is very encouraging.  Why do we try and hide our scars?  "...let's face it, it's so inspiring and such a relief when people find a way to bear the unbearable, when you can organize things so that a small miracle appears to have taken place and that love has once again turned out to be bigger than fear and death and blindness."  "You want to protect your child from pain, and what you get instead is life, and grace."  None of us can completely protect our children from pain and pain is where growth happens.  "This is how we make important changes-barely, poorly, slowly.  And still.  He raises His fist in triumph."  God rejoices with us when change is made, no matter how slow.  "I know that when I call out, God will be near, and hear, and help eventually.  Of course, it is the 'eventually' that throws one into despair."  Oh the waiting, the hardest part of God's perfect timing.  "Hope is not about proving anything.  It's choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim bleak s*@# anyone can throw at us."  Love is always bigger because God is love.

Traveling Mercies

"Traveling Mercies" by Anne Lamott

This is about the author, Anne, and how she came to have faith.  It is quirky, and colorful and not at all righteous.  Each of our journeys are different, each are our own.  "I guess it's like discovering you're on the shelf of a pawnshop, dusty and forgotten and maybe not worth very much.  But Jesus comes in and tells the pawnbroker, 'I'll take her place on the shelf.  Let her go outside again.'"  Sometimes we feel like we aren't worth very much but Jesus says we are each worth a Son.  "And that is why I have stayed so close to mine-because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home."  This is what it shoudl be like, I just don't think it always is.  But this is what God meant, for the body of Christ to be this to one another.  "We in our faith work stumble along toward where we think we're supposed to go, bumbling along, and here is what's so amazing-we end up getting exactly where we're supposed to be."  Thanks to the hand of God directing our paths.  "I always thought that was heroic of her, that it spoke of such integrity to refuse to pretend that you're doing well just to help other poeple deal with the fact that sometimes we face an impossible loss."  Refusing to pretend takes such courage especially when others around you want and need you to be ok.  "She said that the world sometimes feels like the waiting room of the emergency ward and that we who are more or less OK for now need to take the tenderest possible care of the more wounded people in the waiting room until the healer comes."  I love this word picture.  "...in which he said that he's so savoring the moments of his life right now, so acutely aware of the love and small pleasures that he no longer feels that he has a life-threatening desease: he now says he's leading a disease-threatening life."  What a change of perspective.  "But courage is fear that has said its prayers."  We can all then be courageous, all it takes is some prayer.  "And then I remembered this basic principle that God isn't there to take away our suffering or our pain but to fill it with His presence."  He doesn't promise an easy life free of hurt or pain but He does promise to be there in the midst.  "When you make friends with fear; it can't rule you."  I'm not sure how to do that but I'm willing.  This was a interesting little read with lots of good tidbits.  It was quirky, fun and enlightening.