The Shack

For those of you who don't know me, I am quite the avid reader. For those of you who do know me, I'm sure you aren't surprised by that statement. I always have a book in my purse. My library is extensive and there is no rhyme nor reason to it. I've got chick lit. Christian lit. Best sellers. Autobiographies. Hardbacks. Paperbacks. Thick books. Thin books. Books with great titles, but crappy plots. Books with crappy titles, but great plots. Even a few children's books thrown in for good measure. And I'm always looking for a new book to read.

Someone suggested a new book for me- "The Shack." So I bought it and it sat on my bookshelf for about 4 months. Finally, I picked it up. And began carrying it around in my purse for about a week. Eventually, I broke down and started reading it. Next thing I knew, I was underlining passages and dog-earring pages, something I've never done to a work of fiction. The main character Mack experiences a loss that can only be described as every parent's nightmare- the loss of a child. I have never experienced a loss to that degree. But we've all experienced things that deeply affected us. Those things can have long term effects on us. In both good ways and bad ways. But back to my reaction to this book.

What an amazing look at love, relationships, redemption, and God. I've never really felt so intrigued by a book. Not just because the plot was so fascinating. But because of my reaction to it. I don't care if you aren't a reader- you need to read this book! The author's way of describing things just made everything so, I don't even know how to explain it! Here's a little exerpt:

"Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation within their abililty to fly, not the other way around....[Humans], on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around....Living unloved is like clipping a bird's wings and removing its ability to fly. Not something [God] want[s] for you....pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly. And if it's left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place." Wow- do we ever truly allow ourselves to be loved, fully knowing that it was the reason we were created?! Why do we then run away from love? When love stares us in the face, why do we feel that we aren't deserving or we simply can't appreciate it?

Or this observation, from God, about sin: "I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it." Kind of takes away that image of a vengeful God, and replaces it with the image of a daddy God. One who doesn't want us to hurt. But knows that we sometimes have to.

One that really got to me was this one, from God- "just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn't mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don't ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I needed it to accomplish my purposes. That will only lead you to false notions about me. Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors." Sometimes it's so hard to see why God would allow suffering and tragedies in our lives. Acknowledging that God simply is going to use whatever happens to us to show us His grace is such an interesting way to look at life.

But the most interesting was about male/female relationships. "From the first day we hid the woman within the man, so that at the right time we could remove her from within him. We didn't create man to live alone; she was purposed from the beginning. By taking her out of him, he birthed her in a sense. We created a circle of relationship, like our own, but for humans. She, out of him, and now all the males, including me, birthed through her, and all originating, or birthed, from God." I love that image, that woman was hidden within man so that he didn't need to be alone. God doesn't want us to be alone. No matter what difficulties we face, what tragedies confront us. We were not meant to be alone. Either physically or spiritually. God created in us a need for companionship. That need is two-fold. We need a physical companion, someone to walk with us hand-in-hand through all of what life has to offer. And we need a spiritually companion, a Papa (as the characters in the book refer to God) to walk with us hand-in-hand through all of what life has to offer. Both companions are there, for the good and the bad.

Even though I am constantly reading a new book, I really don't think I've read one that struck me to the extent that this one did. So please, read this book. Because Papa is especially fond of each of you. Always remember that. I know it's something that I will carry with me. God loves all of His children equally. And He is especially fond of me!