A Severe Mercy | 
It is, I think, that we are all so alone in what lies deepest in our souls, so unable to find the words, and perhaps the courage to speak with unlocked hearts, that we don't know at all that it is the same with others.
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It is, I think, that we are all so alone in what lies deepest in our souls, so unable to find the words, and perhaps the courage to speak with unlocked hearts, that we don't know at all that it is the same with others.
A day late for #friyayintro—guess it‘s Saturyay instead!
1. The Mysterious Cities of Gold—I‘m still sad that I didn‘t get to see how it ended.
2. Tagged is what first came to mind—a beautiful and heart wrenching memoir of the author‘s marriage & spiritual journey.
3. My major food dislikes are ones everyone else seems to like! Almonds, mint, shrimp, and avocado.
4. We‘re moving next weekend, so I‘m looking forward to settling into our new place!
#riotgrams //#truestories
A Severe Mercy is about Sheldon and Jean Vanauken. It is the story of their extraordinary marriage, their search for faith, their friendship with CS Lewis, and the unexpected tragic circumstances that test all they hold dear. It explores the connections between faith and intellect, the fulfillment found in love of another, and great depths of grief. @bookriot
"Golden streets and compulsory harp lessons may lack appeal- but timelessness? And total persons? Heaven is, indeed, home.”
"No omen warned me... that I should be implored
By God to wear my girlhood like a sword
So edged with mercy men would freeze in fear."
"... The knowledge that Jesus was in truth Lord would not be merely pleasant news gratifying some of our rare desires. It would mean overwhelmingly: that Materialism was Error as well as ugliness; ... that ones growth towards wisdom - soul-building - was not to be lost; and, above all, that the good and the beautiful would survive."
Next on my list... I've read a lot of mixed reviews. I can't wait to see how I like it!
Page 201
And yet, after all, the clock is not always ticking. Sometimes it stops and we are happiest. Sometimes -- more precisely, some-not-times -- we find 'the still point of the turning world'. All our most lovely moments perhaps are timeless.
Page 181
Writing a letter is a real form of conversation in which the image of a distant person is held in one's mind. I could not have spoken aloud to thin air with any sense of reality, nor could I now write to her, but then I could really speak to her in letters.
Page 150
At all events, joy flowed between us, the joy that I thought to be pagan joy. After all, for Christians and unbeliever, there is but one spring of joy.
Page 137
I wanted to protest that it was too much; but how could I do that? It's not possible for one Christian to say to another: You love God too much. Nor to say: You are holier than necessary. I couldn't even 'think' such thoughts. They would have been dangerous. I might have seen things. I merely 'felt' a sort of helpless protest.
Page 131
The Christianity we represented was sunny and joyous, with all the room in the world for humour and gaiety, and yet at the same time rigorous and glorious. So we laughed and joked and poured out the wine but challenged their minds and souls.
Page 129
There was perhaps more faith in the Virginian churches than we perceived, faith that was real but inarticulate and not thought about. But we, seeing what looked like apathy in one direction and, in the other direction, watered-down Christianity, began to wonder whether in Protestantism the apostolic faith were not dying.
Page 97-98
It would seem that Christianity requires both emotional and intellectual assent. If there is only emotion, the mind asks troubling questions that, if not answered, might lead to a falling away, for love cannot be sustained without understanding. On the other hand, there is a gap which must be bridged by emotion. If one is suspicious of the upsurge of feeling that may be incipient faith, how is one to cross the gap?
Page 94
The personality of Jesus emerged from the Gospels with astonishing consistency. Whenever they were written, they were written in the shadow of a personality so tremendous that Christians who may never have seen him know him utterly: that strange mixture of unbearable sternness and heartbreaking tenderness.
Page 77
Moreover, the astonishing fact sank home: our own contemporaries could be at once highly intelligent, civilised, witty, fun to be with--and Christian.
Page 73
The moment was utterly timeless: we didn't know time existed; and it contained, therefore, some foretaste, it may be, of eternity.
Page 73
Neither of us spoke, not so much as whispered a word. We were together, we were close, we were overwhelmed by a great beauty. I know it seemed to us that we were completely one: we had no 'need' to speak.
Page 68
What she needed, what we both needed was the sea and the sky, nature, to soothe our souls. So I held her and comforted her, up against something I could not comprehend; but something I would help her fight.
pickAlthough it seemed to drag at times, I really enjoyed this one! It paints a wonderful image of love at its most new, as well as a Christlike love found after Christian conversion, and how it is not easy, but o so worth it in marriage. Sheldon's honesty and transparency is greatly appreciated, as is his detailed account of daily life in his Christian walk.
I am a fiction lover at heart, but am intentionally reading more non-fiction in recent years. Here are some of my favorites. #nonfictionlove #somethingforsept @RealLifeReading
It is, I think, that we are all so alone in what lies deepest in our souls, so unable to find the words, and perhaps the courage to speak with unlocked hearts, that we don't know at all that it is the same with others.
