I just finished reading, "The Shack." I understand it has been a controversial book, but for me I just kept thinking, this is fiction! I prayed for an open heart and mind.
As I read I began to see things very thought provoking. I got my pad, my pen, my bible and began taking notes, especially where Sarayu is discussing relationship with Mack. To me all of life is about relationship.
We have relationships with each other and hopefully with our Creator, God. I don't believe you can have one without the other. They are intertwined, or as I like to think about it - crossed.
I relate this to The Cross: if my relationship with God is weak then my relationship with others is weak. If my relationship with others is weak then how can I have a strong relationship with God? I know I need balance and harmony and I find these at the Cross.
My favorite quote from The Shack is: "You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you." by Frederick Buechner (Some of us carry it more in the stomach!)
My husband shares a quote from one of his professors in graduate school: "The hardest thing we have to do is take the history that's in us and live the history we're in."
As a Chaplain, I do marriage counseling and when, as a rule the man says, "I'm not marrying her family. I'm just marrying her." I always say, "wrong!" We are all interconnected by relationship whether related or not.
I just was thinking outloud about how important relationship is,
and it doesn't even matter what I think about it..............it just is.
Sometimes relations annoy us and we can't change that, (we can choose to change
our attitude about it though) we don't even have to accept it, but we do have to acknowledge it.
Relationships.............they're all or (their) all relative!
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Phyllis isn't blogging great? We get to say all kind of things to all kinds of people. I appreciate and certianly understand your comments about "relationships" God places us in relationships for a purpose, it might be to influence others or it might be to help us better understand our relationship with HIM, either way it awsome. I'mm looking forward to following your blogsite. My person blog site is located at http://holygroundscafe.blogspot.com drop by some time.
ReplyDeletePhyllis,
ReplyDeleteYou have such insight. I've always loved your writings.
I thought the Shack had some powerful statements but like you, I knew it was fiction. He is a wonderful writer.
Keep writing.
singlewivesclub.blogspot.com
Good stuff. We are all ultimately a summation of the encounters and events of our lifes. Good or bad, it's part of the mix of clay the Master uses to shape us.
ReplyDeleteIt's up to us, just how willing we are to submit to the Potter's hands, to become all that "mix" can be!