Be Awake in Your Own Life
I ran across a review at the NY Times website that caught my attention. The book is called The Slippery Year and it’s what the book is NOT about that caught me.
The author said this:
“It’s really a book about nothing,” said Ms. Gideon, 45, in a telephone interview last week from the summer home in Maine that she was renting with her husband, Ben Rewis, and their son, who is also named Ben. “Or everything. What I discovered is that writing about nothing, I was writing about everything.”
The publisher noted this is written by someone who didn’t have the time or the discretionary income to go to Italy for three months to discover themselves. The point of the book, in writing about the very ordinary events of a life around the age of 40, is that you can discover yourself right where you are.
“The goal is to be awake in your own life.”
Good thought. The author didn’t have to battle through a divorce or depression. It’s just life. And in that life there is the possibility of seeing the blessings.
The review goes on to explore how such a book just may NOT resonate with readers right now. You know, times are tough, people can’t afford things while this lady is writing about nice vacations… blah, blah, blah.
We always seem to find a reason to jettison the ordinary. We just can’t seem to be happy. I think of Paul’s words to the Philippians: “I have learned to be content in whatever situation I find myself in.”
Content. It’s just not the American way.
I have a life. It’s a good one. It’s not front page news and it’s not the stuff of memoirs. It’s not something that gets me national attention as a speaker or preacher, but it’s the life I have. Am I awake in it?
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