visit the shack

I was intrigued when a friend handed me a copy to read and said we'd discuss. I don't take much time for fiction and if it's scary, it doesn't make for bedtime reading, my sedative of choice. But I savor the attention of this friend with her unique perspective, so I did as I was told.

When we shared notes, these emerged as similarities:

• we experienced a happiness despite the story's circumstances; a lightening of our burdens.
  
• we explored abandonment issues.
  
• we accepted the premise that the son is the reliable way to know the father, but there are many ways to knowing the son.

Return to the most human,
nothing less will nourish the torn spirit,
the bewildered heart,
the angry mind:
and from the ultimate duress,
pierced with the breath of anguish,
speak of love.

Return, return to the deep sources,
nothing less will teach the stiff hands a new way to serve,
to carve into our lives the forms of tenderness
and still that ancient necessary pain preserve.

Return to the most human,
nothing less will teach the angry spirit,
the bewildered heart;
the torn mind,
to accept the whole of its duress,
and pierced with anguish…
at last, act for love.

~ May Sarton ~