An enjoyable, short Christmas read. A little sentimental, but Christmas reads usually are.
This reminds me a little of Lisa Wingate's "The Prayer Box" in that an elderly woman's story, thoughts, and reflections changed the life of her listeners for the better. The stories having the similarity makes me think that it's wish-fulfillment literature, that older people wish they had someone to listen appreciatively to their wisdom, and that some younger people wish they had someone to mentor them through the rough patches in life.
The stories do have their differences, though. In "Sarah's Song," Sarah is still living, and in "The Prayer Box," the influence outlived the elderly lady.
"Sarah's Song" also reminds me of one of my uncles, who, while in a nursing home, considered it his mission to reach out to all those around him, serving him there. He was such a jolly soul I think they all loved him for it.
I loved the last section about the Red Gloves series. Each Christmas book in the Red Gloves series - I hadn't even realized this was a series - has a Red Gloves challenge, and this challenge was to visit a nursing home or otherwise make contact with an elderly person and give them a pair of red gloves. Red is to represent Christmas and love and hope.
My favorite quote from this book came from that section: "Every one of them [older people], people in their seventies, eighties, and nineties, has a story to tell. A tale of God's faithfulness, of love won and lost, or of a truth that took years to come to life." It's why I do love listening to elderly people. Their stories are so fascinating to me, of a different time and place.
It is probably too far into the season for me to participate in something like that this year, and actually between this year and last year, we've given out a lot of gloves already to our loved ones, although not necessarily red.
I loved Sarah's theme verse, and it reminded me of Steve Green's song on the same verse. The verse was Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart," and the Steve Green song goes
"Guard your heart, guard your heart.
Don't trade it for treasure, don't give it away.
Guard your heart, guard your heart.
As a payment for pleasure, it's a high price to pay..."
"The human heart is easily swayed,
and often betrayed
by the hand of emotion.
Don't leave the outcome to chance,
we must choose in advance
or live with the tragedy.
Such needless agony..."
We used to play and sing that song for the kids frequently when they were little, partly to counter the "follow your heart" mentality.
A couple of the other reviewers pointed out that real life doesn't always go so well, and one other reviewer pointed out that Sarah still told Beth the rest of her story, even if she missed a few days. To me, that sounds like patience and forgiveness, and perhaps a little bit like faith in God, too, that whatever time they shared together might be enough.