The Shack

So my sister Andrea convinced me to read The Shack, and in the process ruined a whole day for me.
I started it on Monday night and cried like a baby... I can't think of anything more awful than what happened in that book. I pretty much had to skim most of it because it was so unbearable, and even at that I sobbed myself to sleep. It was very icky.
So Tuesday night I decided to further punish my hormonal mind by finishing the book. Day two was better, I still cried, but there was a lot of good stuff too. I like to read about people's interpretations of God and of the afterlife. This one felt pretty true to my own thoughts and I liked that. I just wish the author had used a less horrifying example of loss to help make his point about grief. It was too much for me, and therefore it was very difficult for me to get to the good stuff. Some things that I did get out of the book that I appreciated:
1. God has hopes and plans for us, but we have free will and he won't stand in the way of our decisions, even if they aren't the best.
2. God loves all of his children, but he gave us this earth and now we have to learn to share it, and if we can't get along, too bad.
3. Even when the really bad things happen, trust in God's love for you and know that when it is all said and done, you will live in heaven, where there is no evil and in the meantime God will do his best to make good come out of bad as long we are here on earth.

All interesting points, but for me personally, it wasn't worth going through this man's experience of losing his daughter in such a violent way. So the gist is, I don't recommend it unless you have a high tolerance for sadness or are easily able to separate yourself from characters in a book. I am not one of those people.

In fact, I am pretty much unable to separate myself from people I work with, people I read about in the newspaper, people I have befriended over the internet, or just about anyone else in this world. I have been this way for as long as I can remember, but I have to say that having a child makes this so much worse for me. Compassion is a good thing, but whatever I have goes a little too far. I read the book to help me feel better about some things that have been causing me sadness. I didn't really get that but I am working to trust in God to take care of those that I don't know, but I know are hurting so I can concentrate on counting the many blessings I have. This is very hard for me but I am praying for strength and guidance to let go.