Just finished Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott. It really is wonderful.
Of course, I happen to think Anne Lamott is pretty wonderful anyway - with her crashing honesty, hilarious writing, and the way she shares her thoughts about God and living and politics. You'll be happy to know that she has gotten over hating George Bush so much that it makes her sick...I was worried about that in Plan B. Not that she likes him much, but she's working through the thing.
I feel a special affinity with her as a fellow eating disorder sufferer and as a fairly irreverent and liberal Christian. And, and, AND, she has a 17-year-old son who is not a perfect angel; who, in fact, can be pretty awful (as can she, she points out). My SISTER! Boy, did I need to read about this right now.
She says, "There are only six stories about Sam at seventeen that he'll allow me to tell, and this is my favorite. It's about a fight we had once that left me wondering whether anyone in history had ever been a worse parent or raised such a horrible child. It challenged my belief that there is meaning to life, and that we are children of intelligence and design."
God stays with us, y'all. There is always redemption.
Thank you, Anne. I wish I could thank you in person.
I was feeling pretty blue in Jazzercise class this morning, and the woman next to me had on a T-shirt that said in big letters, "PSALM 34." All during class I wondered, and when I got into the car I looked it up. That was what I needed to read, too:
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together.
4I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5Look to him, and be radiant;
so your* faces shall never be ashamed.
6This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
7The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
9O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him have no want.
10The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing
