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Hiding in Plain Sight: Sabbath Blessings
First prize winner in the first-time authors division, Catholic Press Association Annual Awards, 1999.
152 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 6, 2024
This is one of those books that I got based on the title, and it shows that a good title can sell a book, and, in this case anyway, the good title got me a good book. It’s a book of short essays pointing to God in everyday, walking around life. God is not restricted to cathedrals and solar eclipses, God also hangs out in mud season (an apparently Canadian event), with ants, and on foggy mornings.
In sometimes whimsical and sometimes searching language, Wolf colors in a world of wonder, delight, and sadness with the hues of a God who loves us deeply. A God who laments our blindness and thunders into deaf ears, who struggles with our dementia, but loves us tenderly.
Take for example her essay entitled, “Big Grass,” comparing corn with people, “once we've picked ourselves up for perhaps the eleventy-seventh time, nursing our bruises, we may finally discover a different aspect of reality: we are, in fact, weak and dependent and deeply imperfect creatures, truly Miserable Offenders…. Once we fail often enough at being Good (an invaluable experience!), we begin to be aware that we aren't really in control of things - not even in control of ourselves, as we behave in ways we despise and cannot help…. And if we have any sense, we will look not for any little god (like work or family or church or alcohol) but for The God. The Big God, the one all humankind always dimly senses…. God loves us, not in a sweet-and-fluffy way, but with richness and poignancy and deep yearning for our very souls…. We were (and are) so sick and of our own sin that we could not, cannot accept that love.”
And one more from, “Heavy Weather.” Living in a tiny, undistinguished town is the constant unstated connectedness of life, its concreteness, its realness. Welfare mothers aren't abstractions; they are friends, normal women with normal worries and very little money, and you see how their children are denied what your own children have, unthinkingly and without any real justice. If you're tempted to generalize about the poor, some known face - adult or child, woman or man - gets in the way of your abstract indicate indignation or your well-intentioned condescension. Even the layabouts, the shiftless, the losers are known layabouts and shiftless and losers, and it becomes possible to understand what might have sent them spinning in that direction. It's a little harder to be thoughtlessly self-righteous when you continually trip over real, warm, living bodies. When you see the same faces day by day, they stubbornly insist on turning human….See them often enough and you start wondering what lies behind their tightly closed-off faces….If you're willing to look with love and without judgment, even the faces of real losers become human, recognizable, and even oddly beautiful. You can see the faintest trace of what God sees in them. And you can see that what's in their faces hurts God's very heart for what has conspired to drive that beauty inward and underground.”
It’s a rich book, thoughtful, and filling. I recommend it highly.
In sometimes whimsical and sometimes searching language, Wolf colors in a world of wonder, delight, and sadness with the hues of a God who loves us deeply. A God who laments our blindness and thunders into deaf ears, who struggles with our dementia, but loves us tenderly.
Take for example her essay entitled, “Big Grass,” comparing corn with people, “once we've picked ourselves up for perhaps the eleventy-seventh time, nursing our bruises, we may finally discover a different aspect of reality: we are, in fact, weak and dependent and deeply imperfect creatures, truly Miserable Offenders…. Once we fail often enough at being Good (an invaluable experience!), we begin to be aware that we aren't really in control of things - not even in control of ourselves, as we behave in ways we despise and cannot help…. And if we have any sense, we will look not for any little god (like work or family or church or alcohol) but for The God. The Big God, the one all humankind always dimly senses…. God loves us, not in a sweet-and-fluffy way, but with richness and poignancy and deep yearning for our very souls…. We were (and are) so sick and of our own sin that we could not, cannot accept that love.”
And one more from, “Heavy Weather.” Living in a tiny, undistinguished town is the constant unstated connectedness of life, its concreteness, its realness. Welfare mothers aren't abstractions; they are friends, normal women with normal worries and very little money, and you see how their children are denied what your own children have, unthinkingly and without any real justice. If you're tempted to generalize about the poor, some known face - adult or child, woman or man - gets in the way of your abstract indicate indignation or your well-intentioned condescension. Even the layabouts, the shiftless, the losers are known layabouts and shiftless and losers, and it becomes possible to understand what might have sent them spinning in that direction. It's a little harder to be thoughtlessly self-righteous when you continually trip over real, warm, living bodies. When you see the same faces day by day, they stubbornly insist on turning human….See them often enough and you start wondering what lies behind their tightly closed-off faces….If you're willing to look with love and without judgment, even the faces of real losers become human, recognizable, and even oddly beautiful. You can see the faintest trace of what God sees in them. And you can see that what's in their faces hurts God's very heart for what has conspired to drive that beauty inward and underground.”
It’s a rich book, thoughtful, and filling. I recommend it highly.
March 26, 2023
This is a collection of short essays reflecting on the connection of spirituality and the ordinary moments in life. Nature featured prominently in many of these. 2.5 stars
June 4, 2014
The title of this book is misleading because I expected to actually read reflections about God in nature and the world around us. This was the case with the first section of the book, but the rest was more personal essay -- and sometimes very personal to the point of confusion because the author was being so vague about a circumstance or situation...if you don't want to go into detail to make your point clear, don't include the story.
Additionally, there was no indication of a theological check on any of what was written. There have been times in my walk when I've journaled and speculated about God and why he does what he does, but I wouldn't publish these things without checking what I've written against what the Bible actually says. Its irresponsible since you don't know who your reader is. If I were a new Christian reading this book, I would walk away with a lot of incorrect impressions of who God is.
I personally wouldn't recommend this book to anyone except for the first section, and even then I would recommend just reading it like you would secular prose.
Additionally, there was no indication of a theological check on any of what was written. There have been times in my walk when I've journaled and speculated about God and why he does what he does, but I wouldn't publish these things without checking what I've written against what the Bible actually says. Its irresponsible since you don't know who your reader is. If I were a new Christian reading this book, I would walk away with a lot of incorrect impressions of who God is.
I personally wouldn't recommend this book to anyone except for the first section, and even then I would recommend just reading it like you would secular prose.
July 24, 2011
Probably 3 stars, but Grinnell alum/ thoughtfully sort of mopey religious ladies empathy begs an extra star.
If I tried to actually sit down and write about religious feeling it would probably be sort of like this: reserved, a bit timid, a bit aloof but only out of shyness, spending a lot of time musing on mud and spiders and children and interpersonal relationships.
Since it was a collection of weekly listserv reflections, it got a bit repetitive, but it took me a long time to read it in bite sized pieces, while waiting for things, on the bus, etc, so it worked fine. Hooray.
If I tried to actually sit down and write about religious feeling it would probably be sort of like this: reserved, a bit timid, a bit aloof but only out of shyness, spending a lot of time musing on mud and spiders and children and interpersonal relationships.
Since it was a collection of weekly listserv reflections, it got a bit repetitive, but it took me a long time to read it in bite sized pieces, while waiting for things, on the bus, etc, so it worked fine. Hooray.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews