5th
.Signs of a Good Book:
- Reading the whole thing.
- Reading a passage out loud to whoever happens to be nearest, because I just can’t help myself.
- Finishing the book and continuing to think on its ideas.
Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission by Christopher L. Heuertz and Christine D. Pohl passed the Signs of A Good Book test.
1. I read the whole book. In fact, once I started chapter 2 I didn’t come up for air until the end.
2. My unsuspecting husband was nearby towards the end of chapter 2 and kindly listened as I read about Heuertz’s Personal Retail Equality Tax. If that piques your interest, please purchase and read the book.
3. Sometimes I read or hear something and the idea strikes me. I underline, star or highlight it. But I know it is significant when it keeps floating around in my head. And I think floating is perhaps the best word for it. Sometimes it just sits there, overlooked and ignored. But suddenly a wave of circumstance pushes it up to the forefront of my mind. I look it over, think on it some more. The idea connects with a current experience and causes me to think on it some more. Often, I pick the book up again and re-read the passage. The wave dies down and off it sails back out to the subconscious sea. The next thing I know the wave, like the tides, rolls in again and I hear myself talking to someone about the idea. Trying it out on them, looking for their reaction or opinion. And if the idea really works, it stays. I write it in a journal. I send it in an email. Over time the wave returns and influences my speaking, writing, thinking and most importantly, my living.
At least one idea in Friendship at the Margins has already started traveling that path and I finished the book less than a week ago:
We want to fix things and people. As Christians, we long to bring healing to broken circumstances and to be instruments of God’s reconciling and healing work. Americans tend to take that a step further and expect to be able to solve problems quickly, on our terms and with our tools. But that assumes a level of power and control that is sometimes unavailable and often inappropriate.
In certain situations, choosing to be disarmed is the only way to be present. Without the power and resources that could substantially change the situation, we can still be friends.
These few sentences address a variety of issues. All of which come back to what seems to be a simple question: What does it mean to be a friend? Especially a friend with someone very different than me and in a difficult place in life. That question is a wave that will return again and again.
