"And so Nathan required me (Hannah) to think a thought that has stayed with me a long time and has traveled a long way. It passed through everything I know and changed it all. The chance you had is the life you've got. You can make complaints about what people, including you, make of their lives after they have got them, and about what people make of other people's lives...but you mustn't wish for another life. You mustn't want to be somebody else. What you must do is this: 'Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.' I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions."
22 February 2010
Read Hannah Coulter. It will make you happy.
I am finishing up reading Wendell Berry's Hannah Coulter. It's a biographical account of a fictional character, Hannah, and it's part of his Port Williams series. I don't want to finish it because the characters have become my friends and I'll miss them when they're gone. It's rich in communicating abstract feelings like belonging, roots, community, and change. They become real, tangible things and you feel them with Hannah and her family. It's like listening to the stories and soaking in the wisdom of a grandmother you never had, or maybe just like one you have. Here's a bit of why i love it:
"And so Nathan required me (Hannah) to think a thought that has stayed with me a long time and has traveled a long way. It passed through everything I know and changed it all. The chance you had is the life you've got. You can make complaints about what people, including you, make of their lives after they have got them, and about what people make of other people's lives...but you mustn't wish for another life. You mustn't want to be somebody else. What you must do is this: 'Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.' I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions."
"And so Nathan required me (Hannah) to think a thought that has stayed with me a long time and has traveled a long way. It passed through everything I know and changed it all. The chance you had is the life you've got. You can make complaints about what people, including you, make of their lives after they have got them, and about what people make of other people's lives...but you mustn't wish for another life. You mustn't want to be somebody else. What you must do is this: 'Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.' I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions."
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I took your suggestion on Goodreads and am reading the new Donald Miller; it's nice. I think I'll follow your lead again and pick up this book! Thanks, dear! Call me soon or let me know a good time to call you :)
ReplyDeleteYes, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years really encouraged me, and I hope it does the same for you. I heart Donald Miller, for sure. <3
ReplyDeleteAHHHH so good! Your post and Hannah Coulter! I passed on A Thousand Miles to Kate so we'll see what she says. :) Glad Shane likes that one, too. Donald Miller had me laughing out loud, I must say. But then again I laugh out loud when reading the Bible so who knows.
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