Have you ever read a book that is simply too good to put down?

I am currently reading a book that is just that good. And yet I am making myself take it slowly, one small section at a time. It is like savoring a favorite candy.  The kind of candy that is hard to eat just one bite (ever try to eat just one Skittle?).

The book I am reading is Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey. I knew it had received good reviews by a few people whose opinions I respect, but I didn’t know if it would live up to my own hopeful expectations.

I have only just finished the Introduction and I have already cried three times, underlined several lines and marked certain sections for later reference. Her writing is razor sharp like a doubled edged sword; both poetic and prophetic.

I found myself reading then rereading paragraph after paragraph, not for a lack of clarity in the writing, but for the sheer joy of peeling back layer after layer of insight, wit and extraordinary love and grace in every line.

Every. single. line.

She closes her introduction with a reference to a song lyric by Leonard Cohen from his album The Future by quoting,

There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

After which she responds with,

“And hallelujah, I also think it’s how the light gets out.”

Causing me to nod in agreement and smile to myself as I read it, enjoying her play on words with the ever so popular Cohen song “Hallelujah” the tune of which is inevitably and inextricably now left repeating in my mind as I begin humming softly with  upturned lips and dimpled cheek.

I continue to smile as I close the happy yellow pages of Jesus Feminist and place it on the sill of the window that is quietly weeping with the gentle rain outside for the people who have yet to learn about the good news of Jesus grace and freedom.

Then I quickly scribble a prayer to my Heavenly Father,

Give me a voice to share Your love with others, but first help me learn how to wholly live loved myself.

P.S. and, someday, may I write as beautifully as Sarah Bessey, Amen.

 

© Una-Melina  2014.