Persistence and Trust -- Hello Elizabeth. It is funny what brings us to a place. For me it was a recommendation to look at your Newsletter from a fellow author I trust. I sampled a few and did not quite find the cadence but read a few more and decided I might like a little bit of grace. Thanks.
Mar 22, 2022·edited Mar 22, 2022Liked by Elizabeth Marro
Great post. I guess I try to remember all the good things happening when I feel overwhelmed by the bad. I’m watching the spring flowers trying to burst out of their winter bed. We went to Moab and looked at the beauty of Arches National Park. I wrote to friends. I play with my pets. I hug my daughter. I make tea. Small things. Small things that keep me grounded. Books are good, but some can make you feel inadequate. It was someone else’s journey, and, although we can pick some things that resonate with us, we have to be careful not to absorb their own angst, which they wanted to dissipate, so they wrote about it.
It’s still such a beautiful world and we are here a short time really. We have been through pandemics and wars before. The world has always been changing. I try to seek wisdom from the survivors.
And we've entered Spring! Thanks for another fine newsletter, Betsy. My morning table is outfitting with a little bookshelf where I keep inspiring, comforting books. Each morning, with my first cup of coffee, I light my candle, read a passage from one of the books, and then write in my journal. Just yesterday, I finished reading Thich Nhat Hanh's "Peace is Every Step." Today I began Pico Iyer's "The Open Road." Also that shelf has held "Care of the Soul" and "The Re-Enchantment of Every Day Life," by Thomas Moore. Books by Eckhart Tolle, Pema Chodron, David Whyte and many others too numerous to name here. I've been at that same kitchen table for ten years now; that's a lot of morning reading.
Thank you, Elizabeth for bringing grace to the foreground. I read Louise Penny’s cozy mystery books when I need to remind myself that we already have everything we need.
So many moments of grace in my life -- they and a rather dark sense of humor sustain me. I’m not afraid as much as I’m sad -- we will all return to the earth at some point, and the earth will figure itself out with or without us.
I have been forgiven for sins that if they had been committed against me, I might have been able to forgive. That forgiveness humbles me and makes me more forgiving.
Here is an excerpt from an email sent by Andrew Merton with recommendations for books that awaken readers to moments of grace:
"For books touched with grace I recommend, first, All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. It takes place in Germany and occupied France during WWII. The main protagonists are two teenagers, a German boy with a gift for radio work and a blind French girl. Their paths cross only once, about 500 pages in. Also recommended: The Overstory by Richard Powers, in which ancient trees communicate among themselves, and I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, by Steve Earl, featuring the ghost of Hank Williams and a young woman who appears to have otherworldly powers.
There is also a wealth of music full of grace. Like you I am a non-believer, but that does not stop me from thrilling to sacred music, particularly by Bach and Handel, as well as more recent composers like John Tavener. And there’s grace in secular music too. I don’t think anyone has articulated a sense of grace in a messed-up world better than Leonard Cohen, in “Anthem”:
Ring the bells that still can ring./Forget your perfect offering./There’s a crack in everything./That how the light gets in."
Posting this for Carol Folsom who was having trouble with her apps today so she sent me an email with a great book rec:
"Hi there: my computer has decided not to open any Apps whatsoever so this is my only way to reply for the time being. Please add Lit by Mary Karr to your list. This book is about her alcoholism and recovery and it is full of grace. She was an atheist but now has a deep faith. She is one of my favorite writers ever."
Persistence and Trust -- Hello Elizabeth. It is funny what brings us to a place. For me it was a recommendation to look at your Newsletter from a fellow author I trust. I sampled a few and did not quite find the cadence but read a few more and decided I might like a little bit of grace. Thanks.
Great post. I guess I try to remember all the good things happening when I feel overwhelmed by the bad. I’m watching the spring flowers trying to burst out of their winter bed. We went to Moab and looked at the beauty of Arches National Park. I wrote to friends. I play with my pets. I hug my daughter. I make tea. Small things. Small things that keep me grounded. Books are good, but some can make you feel inadequate. It was someone else’s journey, and, although we can pick some things that resonate with us, we have to be careful not to absorb their own angst, which they wanted to dissipate, so they wrote about it.
It’s still such a beautiful world and we are here a short time really. We have been through pandemics and wars before. The world has always been changing. I try to seek wisdom from the survivors.
And we've entered Spring! Thanks for another fine newsletter, Betsy. My morning table is outfitting with a little bookshelf where I keep inspiring, comforting books. Each morning, with my first cup of coffee, I light my candle, read a passage from one of the books, and then write in my journal. Just yesterday, I finished reading Thich Nhat Hanh's "Peace is Every Step." Today I began Pico Iyer's "The Open Road." Also that shelf has held "Care of the Soul" and "The Re-Enchantment of Every Day Life," by Thomas Moore. Books by Eckhart Tolle, Pema Chodron, David Whyte and many others too numerous to name here. I've been at that same kitchen table for ten years now; that's a lot of morning reading.
Thank you, Elizabeth for bringing grace to the foreground. I read Louise Penny’s cozy mystery books when I need to remind myself that we already have everything we need.
So many moments of grace in my life -- they and a rather dark sense of humor sustain me. I’m not afraid as much as I’m sad -- we will all return to the earth at some point, and the earth will figure itself out with or without us.
I have been forgiven for sins that if they had been committed against me, I might have been able to forgive. That forgiveness humbles me and makes me more forgiving.
Here is an excerpt from an email sent by Andrew Merton with recommendations for books that awaken readers to moments of grace:
"For books touched with grace I recommend, first, All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. It takes place in Germany and occupied France during WWII. The main protagonists are two teenagers, a German boy with a gift for radio work and a blind French girl. Their paths cross only once, about 500 pages in. Also recommended: The Overstory by Richard Powers, in which ancient trees communicate among themselves, and I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, by Steve Earl, featuring the ghost of Hank Williams and a young woman who appears to have otherworldly powers.
There is also a wealth of music full of grace. Like you I am a non-believer, but that does not stop me from thrilling to sacred music, particularly by Bach and Handel, as well as more recent composers like John Tavener. And there’s grace in secular music too. I don’t think anyone has articulated a sense of grace in a messed-up world better than Leonard Cohen, in “Anthem”:
Ring the bells that still can ring./Forget your perfect offering./There’s a crack in everything./That how the light gets in."
Posting this for Carol Folsom who was having trouble with her apps today so she sent me an email with a great book rec:
"Hi there: my computer has decided not to open any Apps whatsoever so this is my only way to reply for the time being. Please add Lit by Mary Karr to your list. This book is about her alcoholism and recovery and it is full of grace. She was an atheist but now has a deep faith. She is one of my favorite writers ever."