Though I read it sometime ago, I needed to re-read some parts.
Plus, I couldn't highlight or underline in her copy. My decision, not her requirement.....she probably wouldn't have minded.....that's just the way she is. Gra-TEA-tude abounds for friendship with someone so accepting and giving.
In this sequel to The Ragamuffin Gospel, which I have not read, Manning deals with grace and gratitude with an honest, authentic approach. Tho the story in Chapter 1 about the parents and their child with Down's syndrome is beautifully etched in my mind, this time around, I've been taking small bites and spending lots of time in Chapter 2. "To walk in gratitude is a way of living that is inclusive, attentive, contagious, and theocentric." (p. 30) In this chapter, he talks about how being grateful for our lives actually releases us to inner freedom.
Two good quotes from the book are actually from Henri Nouwen:
" Stop wandering around....trust that God will bring you what you need." "For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser, depending on others to give you an identity.....trust that God is enough for you." The root choice is to trust at all times......" (p. 23)
"To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives- the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections- that requires hard spiritual work. Still we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God."(p. 31)
One of the most arduous spiritual tasks is that of giving up control and allowing the Spirit of God to lead our lives." (p. 115)
For someone who grew up in a works oriented church and still has a tendency toward self-condemnation, grace is a hard concept for me to grasp. I need reminders and am grateful for the ones this book gives.
"Live free or die is the ragamuffin's motto." (xv)
When the Lord makes us free, we are free indeed (John 8:36)----what a sense of gra-TEA-tude for that truth.
