Good Stuff from Ann Voskamp
Thu, 05/29/2008 - 13:55 | rlp
“Did you ever used to go to church? Like a long time ago, Dad?” The neighboring Williams family took turns with the van Veen family, picking me up Sunday mornings for the drive into town and services.
“Yeah, we went. Your grandmother had us go every Sunday, after milking was done. That was important to her.”
I kept my eyes on his dark strands of hair running through my fingers.
“But it’s not important to you now?” The words, barely whispered, hung.
He pushed up his plaid sleeves, shifted his head, his eyes still closed. “Oh….”
I waited, hands combing, waiting for him to find the words for those feelings that don’t fit neatly into the stiff ties, the starched collars, of sentences.
“No, I guess not anymore. The day Aimee died, I was done with all of that.”...
And even long after I personally said yes to God, I still lived no, developing macular holes on the retina of my soul. Blind spots, missing God present and giving.
This is one of the best things I've read this year. Such a gutsy and honest look at a family history and the spiritual/emotional scars of loss. RLP
Read the rest: Ann Voskamp at Holy Experience.
NOTE: Ann doesn't have comments enabled. I've encouraged her to consider that. But perhaps she is shy in this way. She's a writer first. If you want to leave her a comment, feel free to leave one here.
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WOW, that was sensational.
Fantastic writing, very affecting. Thanks for the link, rlp.
Ann's comments
Yeah, I was introduced to Ann's writing what, two weeks ago, I guess? I clicked on over to tell the woman that she's brilliant, but alas, no place to do that. How am I supposed to pump up her ego? ;)
Ann was the first blog ever
Ann was the first blog ever that I started reading. About 3 years ago. She has an incredible sweet spirit, and has been such an inspiration to me, my parenting, my journey with Jesus. She will reply if you email her.
lovely
very thought-provoking.
Still, sin. I have a hard time believing that losing faith in a good God when the unthinkable happens is something God calls sin. Papering over the hole? Maybe.
Sin
I think it depends a lot on how you define "sin". There seem to be as many definitions as there are people defining it. For me, sin is basically any behavior which cuts off the flow of Divine Grace into and through us rather than a "I did a bad thing and need a time-out" sort of misbehavior. From that perspective, any loss of faith, however temporary, could be seen as "sinful" if it clenches our hearts in such a way as to cut off that flow.
In Peace Profound,
Nicholas
She has a talent for turning
She has a talent for turning a thought into an experience. thank you for the courage to write!
Blessings in your work,
N+
You (RLP) and Ann...
...are two peas in a gutsy, honest pod. (Though, really, I doubt one pod could hold the two of you without totally splitting itself open and spilling all that great, popping roundness to the wind).
Oh fond memories. History is
Oh fond memories. History is what determines us. With knowledge of our history or others' histories, we learn about our or others traits and styles.