Wally Lamb

I have never really given a book review on here, but I must do it now. Over the last year I read 2 of the most fabulous, real, raw, true, funny, honest, strange and beautiful books. Wally Lamb somehow captures both genders in amazing and painfully honest ways. The first book I read is She's Come Undone, about an obese girl coming of age and growing through adulthood with a multitude of problems and interesting circumstances, and unlike current trends in comtemporary fiction, the ending is comfortable and happy, not post-modern and strange. Loved It! The next is probably the best book I have ever read- I mean ever...including everything I read in college pusuing a literature degree. It is called I Know This Much Is True. This book is about twin brothers, one has a mental illness, and the other is "normal" which means nothing as you will see in the book. It is a beautiful weaving of 4 generations from Italy to America and the strange truths and lies that grow us into who we are. His new book The Hour I First Believed, came out in November and I have just started it and already I find myself relating to each character and experiencing the master painter at work. Lamb paints people with words. Wonderful and inspiring fiction- check it out!

Being Relevant WHILE Being Faithful

photo: rio de gente - people river by z e n g a

I want to be relevant.
I want to read books that keep me aware and informed.
I want to help causes that need my help.
I don't want to put on lenses of prudish, pious, puritanical protection from the outside.
I want to see the job that needs to be done and then actually do it.
I want to be able to walk into a bar, a shop, a club, a market, a carnival, a festival, a church and be in the right place. Not be a sore thumb, not be a snob, not be a freak, or a self-righteous show-off.
I want to be calm in places that make my heart beat fast, and not too comfortable in places that seem like home.
I want to feel the itch that pain is near and I could possibly be the balm.
I want to see humanity with a simple scope and clear hope.
I want to walk with a plan and yet let the plan fall to the wayside if the moment craves some spontaneity.

I want to be faithful.
I want to read the only Book that truly matters.
I want to be the good Samaritan and a Friend that helps to set the captives free.
I am a Mary Magdalene. I want to know her heart and feel her passion.
I want to focus on the man who comes riding on a white charger and not let my gaze be moved.
I want to walk into any place at all, any country at all, and know that I do not belong and I won't belong, because I am from another world and speak another language.
I want to be wise, loving, thoughtful and considerate.
I want to see humanity, my brothers and my sisters in and outside of this chasm of created order, with eyes that heal, and hands that help, and a heart that bleeds truth from the Faithful One.

Feeding The Lake

photo by jennysweedler

The "Feeding the Lake" philosophy is why I named my blog "everybody gets prizes"...

Madeleine L'Engle in her book, Walking on Water- reflections on faith and art, made me realize something about myself as a writer and an artist, that has given me new perspective and fresh ideas.

Humanity is like a large mass of creative energy that longs to express itself in many diverse ways. As we begin to set our impulses free, we feed the lake, or pour into human culture and society for the good of it. Some of us are Michelangelos, Beethovens, Shakespeares etc. while most others are regular people with regular to zero acclaim. (Van Gogh was almost one of those.) What we all do is feed the lake, regardless of our popularity. As long as you express yourself and pour yourself fully into this work, you will find faith at the end of it. You will find Him in this desire to create, as we are created.

The best part of Being a part of this created process is that we all get prizes.

Prize: We get the chance to create and feel what it is like to birth something and have it validated by others perhaps. Before the Earth was formed it was a shapeless mass and before Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, the ceiling was bare. There is always the before and after with the creative process.

Prize: We get life and the opportunity to give it to others through having children, adopting, encouraging, enriching a life in countless ways etc...
I want to be an inspiration to my children and to others that they are made for the purpose of using gifts and abilities. I don't want to hinder others by discouraging them from pusuing a passionate life and following dreams.

Prize: A Heavenly home- the epitome of desire for of all those who are created in His image and for His glory. We want this deeply and so our work and our way of life will reflect this.

If Heaven is not one of the prizes you long for, then perhaps you are not aware of who you are and why you are here. Ask and it shall be given- Seek and you shall find...when that door opens everybody gets prizes.

Read a book- go to new places

Recently, my sister in law was in town. This is interesting because she lives in China most of the year. When she comes, I try to talk to her about Chinese culture, her perspectives etc. Inquiring minds want to know around here. (As I write this she has returned to China and has begun a 2 year language program.)

This visit, while on the beach, we discussed American life and the vast difference with other world cultures. Now those that know Leslie, know that she is a world traveler. She has been to Costa Rica, Uganda, Tajikistan, Thailand, all over Europe, and not just for a measly week-extended stays people. So I think she has a pretty good grasp on our culture and also on some others.

While we were conversing on the beach that warm Florida day, we began to discuss the closed- mindedness some Southern Americans seem to have. We covered racism and it's nasty effects on those not fortunate to travel and see for themself that all people are relatively the same. She shared with me that she thinks that not seeing and experiencing other places besides your own backyard may be why some people remain ignorant in their views. I quickly agreed. One needs to get away from their "own" to get a clue as to how the other half lives. But like all things with me, I could not leave it at that. Many days later, the conversation kept me awake at night and I worked through it over and over.

I think that I felt concern for myself; I had not traveled nearly as far or as wide as she. Was I a racist, or uncultured? I certainly felt as though I was not due to 3 semesters with my Africana Studies professor Dr. Gayles. (He opened my eyes a million times to racism in America.) No- I can say I am not, so what makes me, an untraveled lady of the South not ignorant?

BOOKS. I began to work through the issue with new eyes. If you read, you cannot hide behind your fears of other people and their different ways. If you read, you DO travel to new lands, speak new languages, eat exotic foods, learn new customs and walk in another person's shoes. You can stay just where you are and never leave that cozy chair and yet be all over the world at the same time. That is true time and place travel. That is the key to getting a new perspective- Glorious and freeing Books! I love them like old friends.

I read constantly. This week I read A Severe Mercy by Vanauken and My Antonia by Cather. I have traveled to England and had tea with C.S. Lewis, fished in the Keys, hiked Virginian forests, had wonderful conversations about God with philosophers of the last century, played in the Nebraska prairies among bull snakes and rattlers, danced in a circus tent with young ladies in too short dresses, attended an opera and the list goes on. I did this all for under 3 dollars at a used book shop. (Talk about being green!)

I encourage everyone to read so we can have better conversations, get new perspectives, see with fresh eyes. You can be alone for the rest of your life, in a cell, on a remote island, but with a stack of great books, you are not there at all.
Of course, I went back to Leslie and we re-discussed and she agreed with the me of course, because after all, before she was a world traveler, she was a great reader. And she still is.

Talking About Big Things

My daughter and I have always had bold conversations. I feel like an older version of her, or maybe she is a younger version of me. I am 27 and she is 5. I loved being 5. I wanted to be an artist and she wants to be a veterinarian. I loved noodles and she loves cookies. We both watched Little House on the Prairie and we both wanted to be Laura.

When I was little, people would say "look at that red hair" and "my, what an old soul she is" and my daughter has both red hair and an "old soul"... She likes to ask questions such as "Mother, what is my glorified body going to be like?" and "Mother, did Adam and Eve have belly buttons since they were not actually born?" I have no idea of course, but we must discuss these things and try to figure them out or else I may lose that deep and inquisitive nature in myself and in my child. So, we deal with these things in a 1 part logical and 2 parts fantasy sort of way.

I volunteer each week at a Crisis Pregnancy Center. I talk to scared women about their options. I try and give them hope for a chance for the baby's life whether it be adoption or choosing to parent. I tell them that abortion is also an option, and give them a scientific run down of the procedure. Usually that is enough to make a woman either burst into tears, put on a stone cold face, or feel sick to their stomachs. Some women choose to parent, some abortion, and very few choose adoption. My job is to encourage them to get informed , know their rights and secretly pray that this little one will be born and have a chance to make a difference in this crazy world. Lily wants to know what Abortion is....

So- I tell her, no fantasy or logic- just the cold hard facts. Many may feel that she is too young to know. Some may think that this is wrong on my part and sucking away her innocence. I would argue that she is not innocent (she is a sinner that repents) or too young. She is my child and I know her better than others do.

My other children are too young. She has a history of asking sincere questions and they do not. We talked about Mountaintop removal. She was horrified. "Why are they destroying God's beauty?" she asks. So I tell her that it is so we can watch TV and turn on the light in the bathroom all night long so brother won't be afraid.

Talk to your little ones about BIG THINGS. Start them on a lifetime to critical thinking and wonder. Don't leave them there to figure it out alone and incorrectly. Don't tell them "what to think" teach them "how" to think.