At the Turning of Time

It is a good chance for us to rethink the way we are living, to reexamine our call in life, review those all-important relationships with God, ourselves, others and "this fragile earth, our island home." We probably don't need much more to stimulate this time of reevaluation. A brand new century is probably enough. Just the same, I have a few books that might help "prime the pump."

The Call to the Soul: Six Stages of Spiritual Development by Marjory Zoet Bankson. Innisfree Press, 1999. 190 pages, paper $14.95.

I do hope most readers of this magazine have gotten this book already, but thought it a perfect segue into our thinking about the years 2000, when we may be hoping for a time of finding meaning, purpose, our true calling.

Most of us have probably been reading books and heard sermons, even done retreats on "call" for years, but I have seldom found a clearer, more realistic explanation than Marjory's book. If we have spent years exploring our inner lives and our spirituality, we already know, even if we do not acknowledge it, that our call, or response to God cycles. If on the other hand we are just beginning this journey, or are stumbling slowly along, then reading the concise explanations and assurances this book encompasses can give us courage. And at any stage in answering those basic conundrums, Who am I?, What is my work?, What is my gift?, What is my legacy?, it is comforting and exhilarating to find ourselves along one of these cycles in the six-stage walk with such an expert guide.

Motherlove: Re-inventing a Good And Blessed Future For Our Children by Esther Davis-Thompson. Innisfree Press, 1999. 160 pages, paper, $12.00.

"The Other Side" magazine says this book is "a gift to women trying to mother well....rich with affirmation, common sense, and wisdom about recovering one's spiritual 'motherspace'." Organized into short reflections, introduced with a powerful quote and followed by a positive short resolution, it should be easy to fit reading this into a busy schedule.

In addition to all this helpful wisdom, Innisfree Press has begun "Motherlink," a program to build community for those less fortunate. Customers can buy copies of MotherLove at half price from the publisher to be donated to teenage mothers, battered women with children and disadvantaged families. It's a wonderful project that the author and the publisher have teamed up on to get this positive and very helpful book into as many mother's hands as possible and help a whole generation of children. How can it get better than that?

Cries of The Heart: Stories of Struggle And Hope by Johanna Christopher Arnold. The Plough Publishing House, 1999. 226 pages, paper $14.95.

Here's a book for everyone -- even "non-believers." It is full of stories and quotes from all kinds of people and faith traditions woven together with the gentle wisdom and words of a caring pastoral counselor. Using simple basic words of faith and living for chapter titles, Arnold explores and enlarges on many of the age-old questions we humans struggle with; suffering and death, life and love, faith and doubt, believing and trusting. Through it all is the calm recognition that prayer in some form, and a belief in a supreme Being ultimately permeates all the searching and struggle. Forwards by Harvard's Robert Coles and baseball's Darryl Strawberry point to the breadth of the book's attraction.

Evensong by Gail Godwin. Ballantine Books, 1999. 405 pages, hardcover $25.00.

I have not reviewed fiction here at all with the exception of a couple of outstanding children's books. This book is definitely worth an exception. Set in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina in the weeks just before this century closes, and seen through the eyes of a female parish rector, Godwin has managed to gather a whole lot of strands of the problems of our culture while weaving a story full of solid values, biblical musings, homespun wisdom, and the best Advent sermon I have ever heard or read. For many of us reading this book has initiated long discussions of what church should or should not be, how we manage relationships in the midst of conflict and how we may hear God's voice in even the unlikeliest encounters. The book is a fine example of how story becomes parable that explores deep truths.

Ruth Butler is a retired teacher, children's literature specialist and Episcopalian from Topsfield MA.