Favorite Books a Great Place to Visit

I arrived at my Maine home to find a copy of a favorite book. "An Interrupted Life-the diaries of Etty Hillesum" . It was a book I read in my early thirties and has always been a life changer for me. It is a book that brought me closer to my faith and helped to remind me that nothing, nothing is so dark that love is not possible. It was Etty's love of humanity, love of God and love of each moment that amazed me.

This morning I picked up the well worn book, once shared with a friend and returned to me by mail some 15 years later during a time of uncertainty. Opening the book to a page that seemed fitting for me I share:

"We go too far in fearing for our unhappy bodies, while our forgotten spirit shrivels up in some corner. Our lives are going wrong , we conduct ourselves without dignity. We lack an historical sense, forget that even those about to perish are a part of history. I hate nobody. I am not embittered. And once the love of mankind has germinated in you, it will grow without measure."

In a prison camp, facing certain death and horrible conditions these were her thoughts. I think to myself how timeless they are. The worry for my aging body, my aching back or my unhappiness with a particular event in my week pales when I experience my faith, feeling love deeply. So for today I take with me the idea that allowing love to grow is far more productive than worry!