In A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus, William, 12, Edmund, 11, and Anna, 9, live in 1940 England. Their parents died when William was 5. “The grandmother” had charge of them since, but she sent them off to boarding school and was cold and aloof when they were home.
Now the grandmother has died as well. The family solicitor, Mr. Engersoll, explains that the children have been left a lot of money, but no one has been named as their guardian. Apparently there is no one to ask. The children plead to stay with the family’s housekeeper, Mrs. Collins, but she’s too old to take them in.
Mr. Engersoll suggests that the children join evacuees being sent to the country. Perhaps the foster parents they find might take them in permanently. The children are advised not to tell anyone that they are alone in the world or that their family has money, so they don’t get taken advantage of.
The children agree with what Mrs. Collins calls “the preposterous plan,” as there seems to be no other option.
The children are billeted together first with one family, then another. I don’t want to spoil the story by telling what went on in those places, but neither is suitable.
The children spend many afternoons in the town library. Books have always been their friends, and the warmth and quietness of the library provide a refuge. The kind interest of the librarian, Mrs. Muller, makes the place even more welcome.
It’s not long, however, before they discern Mrs. Muller is something of an outcast. She’s married to a German man who has disappeared.
The children wish they could stay with Mrs. Muller, despite her husband’s possible Nazi leanings.
This story starts out like a classic fairy tale, with children alone in the world having to overcome various difficulties. I had thought it was a young adult book, but Amazon recommends it for grades 4-7.
I don’t often read secular books for this age group, but the Story Warren and Hope both spoke well of this story, piquing my interest. I agree with C. S. Lewis that a good children’s book can be enjoyed by adults as well. When the title came up temporarily free from Audible. I gave it a try.
I’m so glad I did. I loved this book. The story is well-told and the characters are beautifully drawn. Descriptions of both warm and cozy and difficult scenes make you feel you are experiencing them along with the children. References to beloved classic children’s books are scattered throughout. Polly Lee’s British accent enhanced the audiobook. I didn’t want the book to end.
Some of my favorite quotes:
The first words of a new book are so delicious—like the first taste of a cookie fresh from the oven and not yet properly cooled.
The librarian took this all in, standing by the fire and observing the children for a while, letting the silence be. Somehow, it didn’t feel awkward, the way silences often do. Perhaps librarians are more used to quiet than most.
William, Edmund, and Anna knew, somewhere deep in the place where we know things that we cannot say aloud, that they had never lived in the sort of home one reads about in stories – one of warmth and affection and certainty in the knowledge that someone believes you hung the moon.
Edmund took in the boy’s mended jacket, the eyes underlined in shadows, the skin above his upper lip chapped raw from a dripping nose gone unattended, and saw the sort of hunger whose endlessness digs a pit in a person. Being eleven, Edmund wouldn’t have put it quite in those words, but he recognized it nonetheless.
While she wasn’t sure of the precise definition of the word “bibliophile,” Anna was certain it meant something that she wanted to be.
The stealing of sweets, after all, is an act committed only by those with unspeakably black souls.
The smell of the cookies filled the children with a warmth that can only come from the magnificent alchemy of butter and sugar.
Truth be told, Anna was rather giving away the ending, but sometimes one cannot help oneself.
Anna thought of offering up a hearty platter of I told you so, but she didn’t. Why foul perfection with such a sharp thing as bitterness?
This is a lovely book. Not fluffy bunny and serene landscape lovely, but a wonderful tale beautifully told.
The Four Graces are daughters of the vicar of Chevis Green, England, during WWII. This book is sometimes listed as the fourth Barbara Buncle book, but Barbara only appears in one scene at the beginning at a wedding. The setting and some of the characters from the previous book carry on, however.
The vicar has been a widower for some time, and his grown daughters all help around the house and village–or at least they did, until one went into the service during WWII.
Liz works on the neighboring farm of Archie Chevis-Cobb, the local squire. She’s always up for adventure and is unconventional and outspoken.
Sal takes care of most of the home chores. She was sickly as a child and therefore did not attend school. She has a quiet, steady disposition and helps her father smooth the ruffled feathers of his congregants.
Addie enlisted in the WAAF and lives in London but pops in and out.
Tilly is quiet and shy and plays the organ.
Amid the war shortages and rationing, the Graces live a quiet, pleasant life. But then William Single, a scholar interested in Rome, comes to stay with them and study what he thinks is an old buried Roman settlement nearby. William is a large but gentle, bumbling man and fits into the household nicely.
A young officer, a friend of Addie’s comes to visit–too often for Tilly’s tastes. She’s afraid he has designs on one of her sisters.
But the household is totally disrupted by the arrival of Aunt Rona, the girls’ late mother’s sister. Bombing shattered all her windows of her London house, so she came to stay with the Graces. But she takes over and tries to manage everything and everyone. And then the girls fear Aunt Rona might be trying to worm her way into their father’s affections.
This book reminded me a bit of Little Women, if it had been set during WWII. The girls here are older, though, all in their twenties.
Some of the quotes I loved:
Life was like that, thought Liz. You drifted on for years and years—then, suddenly, everything happened at once and all the things that had seemed so stable dissolved and disintegrated before your eyes…and life was new.
I have noticed that nowadays when people speak of being broad-minded they really mean muddleheaded, or lacking in principles—or possibly lacking the strength to stand up for any principles they may have.
“Books are people,″ smiled Miss Marks. ″In every book worth reading, the author is there to meet you, to establish contact with you. He takes you into his confidence and reveals his thoughts to you.
She talked less than some of the others and perhaps thought more.
I listened to the audiobook nicely read by Karen Cass.
This was a secular book, so I would not agree with every little thing–like brief mentions of astrology and a universal religion. But otherwise, this is a sweet English village story that I enjoyed very much.
In fact, I am a little disappointed to leave this setting and these characters behind. I’d love for there to have been a sequel or at least a mention of the sisters in other books like Stevenson does with some of her characters. But we’ll just have to imagine the Graces continuing in in the ups and downs and pleasures and sorrows of life.
I suppose people could disagree over almost every point in the Bible. But by and large, most Christians agree that much in the Bible is clear: the way of salvation, who Jesus is, how a person can know God, and so much more. All the most essential, non-negotiable doctrine is clear to those who seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance as they read and who don’t twist the Scriptures..
But there are issues good people have been arguing about for centuries. I fear many Christians have spent much more time causing division over these issues than they have sharing the truth they know and ministering to others.
Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t make some things more clear? So much energy and time and angst could have been saved if God had spelled some things out.
I don’t know, but just speculating, I came up with a few thoughts.
Our hearts. If you’ve ever tried to give rules to your children, you’ve probably found one who can find any loophole. We used to say that one of ours could be a lawyer, he was so skilled at this.
Even when you think the standards are pretty clear, some are going to question and push the limits.
During car trips, our kids got bored and started bugging each other. After several rounds of correction, we finally said, “Just don’t touch each other.” Then we heard cries and wails again. I turned around to see one brother holding his finger an inch away as if he was going to poke the other one. When confronted, he looked up innocently and said, “I’m not touching him.”
Even though he was obeying what we said, his heart wasn’t following what we meant.
I think God does not just want us to follow rules blindly, but He wants our hearts.
Do we prefer a list of rules, or are we going to seek to know our Father well enough to become more like Him in character?
Our consciences are at different levels of maturity. In New Testament times, Christians differed over whether it was all right to eat meat that had been offered to idols and then sold in the marketplace. Some felt the meat was tainted by its association with idols. Others felt meat was meat, idols were nothing, so eating the meat was no problem.
Paul told these saints, “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. . . . Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble” (Romans 14:14-16, 20-21).
The meat is not unclean, Paul said. But if some people think it is, don’t offend their conscience by eating it in front of them.
We knew a pastor’s wife who felt she shouldn’t wear earrings. Her husband didn’t have a problem with earrings, but allowed her to follow what she felt was God’s leading. When the “Iron Curtain” came down in Eastern Europe, this couple were among the first Christians who traveled to help, hand out Bibles, and minister in whatever way they could.
They found the Christians they encountered had strong opinions about women wearing jewelry and makeup: they thought such things were worldly. Because this woman had already voluntarily cut down on such things, she had an inroad with them.
Did these believers need to learn not to judge others for wearing jewelry and make-up? Yes. But they had many other needs that had to be attended to first. They had not had access to Bibles and regular church gatherings. Those kinds of issues would come with time, teaching, and maturity. It would not have been right to fuss over them right off the bat.
Study and prayer. When the Bible does not state something clearly, we’re disposed to dig in and study it all the more. We shouldn’t join this camp or the other just because one appeals to us. I mentioned before Romans 14:5b: “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” As best we can, we need to search the Scriptures and ask God’s guidance and wisdom.
Grace. Are we going to beat everyone over the heads with our views of Bible versions, end times, modesty, standards? Or are we going to extend grace to those who differ?
I was quite grieved during the pandemic and the last couple of national elections to see how Christians treated each other’s differences. Christians have always had differences and have always needed admonishment to disagree gracefully, which is why these topics take up so much space in the epistles. But social media has taken such bickering to new lows.
I used to think that if we’re all filled with the same Holy Spirit, we should all come to the same conclusions about everything. But that’s not what the Bible says. Instead, it tells us to remember that each of us is God’s child, His image bearer, and should be treated accordingly. We should do everything we do as unto the Lord. In Romans 14, those who ate meat and celebrated certain days did so unto the Lord—and those who did not acted as unto the Lord, even though they were on the opposite sides of these issues. Both were living as unto the Lord, even though they differed on how to do so. Romans 14 also tells us not to despise or judge each other, to be fully persuaded in our own minds, not to cause others to stumble, to “pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (verse 19).
1 Corinthians discusses some of these same issues. Chapter 6:12 says, “’All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything.” Chapter 10, verses 23-24 add, “’All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” So some things may be strictly permissible, yet I should not do them if they dominate me, aren’t helpful, and don’t build up. I need to think about not just my good, but my neighbors’.
Seek God’s glory. After discussing several issues where Christians differed, Paul said, “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5-6). We need to look for and choose the path that most glorifies God, not the easiest or the most familiar.
If God does not spell some of these issues out, how do we know what to do? “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). The next verse says “he has granted to us his precious and very great promises.” We seek Him and His Word with a sincere heart. When there is not clear chapter and verse on an issue, some of these principles we’ve discussed will guide our attitudes and actions.
Conversations with others, especially more mature Christians, can shed light. But we shouldn’t descend into bickering.
Rupertus Meldenius had it right when he said, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
Don’t Be Taken In by the Tolerance Trick, HT to Challies. “Real tolerance, I explained, is about how we treat people, not ideas. Classic tolerance requires that every person be free to express his ideas without fear of abuse or reprisal, not that all views have equal validity, merit, or truth.”
Quarantine Is Not a Good Option for parenting styles, HT to Challies. “As tempting as it might be, don’t move your family to a plot of land without internet, electricity, and running water. I’m suggesting that instead of being overwhelmed, we intentionally inoculate our children. Let me explain.”
The Lord Opened a Door for Me . . . So I Shut It, HT to Challies. I’ve included this mainly because it’s a great example of how to respond when a Bible passage doesn’t seem to make sense or seems to go against another passage. “When I find something odd like this in the Bible—when I’m apparently not on the same wavelength as God and his apostle Paul—the correct starting point is to assume I am the one who needs to adjust his thinking. So what can I learn here that might turn the ‘huh?’ moment into an ‘aha!’ moment?”
The Inefficient Church. HT to Challies. “I’m all for certain kinds of efficiency. I just placed an online order to save a trip to the store. But I’m for the right kind of inefficiency: the inefficiency of caring enough to slow down and treat people like people, to know their names, and to actually care.”
The Best Use of Your Short Life, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “Joni’s husband is gone. Her firstborn has passed. Her sister lived to 108 but left us last December. Her joints ache. She grieves over the dramatic moral collapse of our society. She’s ready to go home. So the question returns: ‘Why am I still here?'”
What Can You Do to Help Your Husband be the Best Dad? “In those first few months of parenting, the reality of our differences becomes more obvious than ever before. And with that, the temptation to nag is nearly unbearable. Trust me … even for those who thought we would never nag!”
The Fridays keep coming, seemingly faster each week. It’s good to pause in the busyness to remember and give thanks for the good things of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.
1. Dinner and photos. We had the family over Saturday night to hear about my youngest son’s trip to RI to visit my oldest. Jesse doesn’t take a lot of pictures, but he did manage a few. It was fun to hear more about the trip.
2. Pudding Chip cookies, recipe here. I don’t bake much any more with just the two of us, especially with my husband working hard to keep his blood sugar down. So it was a treat to whip up a batch of cookies for the family get-together and send some home with the kids. I substituted King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour for the flour called for, since we have a couple of gluten-intolerant members, and everything came out fine.
3. Discovering a beautiful song. While baking, I had BBN Radio on. I heard a new-to-me song titled “This Is the Will of God.” The voices, melody, harmonies, and rich lyrics all captivated me. I was going to email BBN to find out who had sung the song. But then I decided to poke around YouTube and see if it was there. It was!
The notes on YouTube share how the song grew out of the author’s study about God’s will. The group is Forever Be Sure. I spent a little time reading their “about” articles and listening to some of their other songs. I look forward to listening to more!
4. An uneventful cardiologist’s visit. I felt like I could just phone in this one rather than driving half an hour to this appointment, except for their having to do an EKG and listen to my heart every visit. But it’s good, very good, that things have been normal and there are no new issues! I see the physician’s assistant every other visit and love talking to her. She answered a couple of long-time questions I had not been clear on. Maybe by the time I see the doctor in December, we can go to once-a-year visits instead of every six months.
5. Afternoon shopping and errands. I’ve been wanting to visit the large At Home store which is just down the street from the cardiologist’s office. So I figured I’d wait til I was on that side of town. I didn’t find quite what I wanted, but at least now I’ve got visiting that store out of my system. I enjoyed roaming around the store.
Also in the same area is a Great American Cookie shop. I love their peanut butter cookies and hadn’t had them in a long time. In all honesty—they weren’t quite as good as I remember them. Maybe Crumbl Cookies surpassed them. But Crumble Cookies changes their selection every week, which can be fun—but I always know GAM will have their familiar fare.
Usually when I talk about books or films here, I only share a part of the plot, some quotes, and my thoughts about them. I don’t want to give away the end or any surprises.
But “Babette’s Feast” is a short story. This post would only be a paragraph or two if I just shared a bit about it. Plus, I’d love to explore what it means and hear your thoughts as well.
“Babette’s Feast” is part of a collection published as Anecdotes of Destiny in 1958 by Isak Dinesen (pen name of Danish Author Karen Blixen). In 1987, it was made into an award-winning Danish film.
The story opens with two elderly sisters in Norway in the 1800s. Their late father was a pastor who created his own strict sect. “Its members renounced the pleasures of this world, for the earth and all that it held to them was but a kind of illusion, and the true reality was the New Jerusalem toward which they were longing.”
The women were beauitful and admired in their youth. Many young men noticed them, but those who approached their father for permission to court them were rebuffed. The girls were his right and left hand—would these young men tear them from him?
However, both young women had a chance at love. Lorens Löwenhielm, a rakish Calvary officer, was sent by his father to visit his aunt in the country and meditate on his ways. Lorens sees Martine in the marketplace. He visits her home and admires her all the more. But her purity seems to show up his own smallness. He eventually leaves to go back to his garrison and pour himself into his career. He marries a lady-in-waiting to the Queen.
An acclaimed singer, Achille Papin of Paris, visits the area on vacation. Bored one morning, he wanders into church and is captivated by the voice of Philippa. He offers to give her singing lessons, telling her father she will “sing . . . to the glory of God.” But inwardly, he thinks she could be a famous prima donna and sing with him.
He shares his dreams with Philippa. In one lesson, they sing a love song together and he kisses her.
Philppa tells her father she does not want to take singing lessons any more.
The young women ministered beside their father for years until he passed away. They continued charitable works in the community, helping the poor and needy, holding meetings in their home.
But the little congregation had thinned out and gotten old and contrary. Members focused on old wrongs with each other.
Now elderly, the women are startled when a pale woman shows up on their doorstep and faints. When she awakes, she gives them a letter. She was a French refugee fleeing from civil war in Paris. Achille Papin sent the sisters the letter asking them to take the women, Babette, in. It was proposed that she work as a cook and maid, but the sisters cannot afford to hire her. Babette does not want pay.
Babette recovers from her troubles and becomes a real asset to the sisters and the community. The sisters eat very plainly and show Babette how everything must be cooked. She’s savvy with merchants and saves the sisters money. Her efforts at home free them to minister even more to the community.
As the hundredth birthday of the sisters’ father approaches, they want to prepare a special dinner for the congregation. They not only want to honor their father’s memory, but they hope to inspire the congregation back to the ideals he taught.
Meanwhile, a friend of Babette’s in France had purchased a lottery ticket for her and renewed it every year. Suddenly, Babette receives news that she has won 10,000 francs.
The sisters rejoice in Babette’s good fortune but grieve that they will lose her. They are sure that with independent means, she will no longer need their hospitality.
But Babette wants to use her money to provide the feast for their father’s hundredth birthday dinner. The sisters reluctantly agree.
Babette wants to make an authentic French meal and orders supplies. The sisters are alarmed at the strange items that arrive, including a massive live turtle and several bottles of wine. The sisters face a conundrum. How can they allow these rich and foreign foods to be given to the congregation? But what can they do? They don’t feel they can offend Babette by rejecting her offer.
They go to the congregation and confess what has happened. The members understand and promise not to comment on the food, good or bad.
Meanwhile, officer Löwenhielm’s aunt wants to be included in the feast to honor the late pastor. And her nephew, Lorens, is in town: could he accompany her?
By now, Lorens has achieved all the honors he could want. But he sees it all as vanity. He remembers enough of what he heard back in the little congregation to convict him that there is more to life, and he has been foolish.
Finally the big feast arrives. Lorens is well-traveled and is the only one to recognize the superb quality of the wine and food. In fact, they remind him of the time he ate at a restaurant of one of the most famous and acclaimed chefs in Paris.
The sisters and congregants eat silently and tentatively at first. But soon the meal and the wine and the fellowship warms their hearts. They renew their love for each other and put away old wrongs.
When everyone leaves, the sisters thank Babette for the meal. They ask when she will be leaving them.
She won’t be leaving, she says. She has spent all her 10,000 francs on the meal. She had been the famous chef Lorens spoke of and gave the sisters and congregation the best meal she could produce.
_______
On the surface, this story could seem like a slam at the Puritanical practices of the sisters and an encouragement to enjoy life’s good things.
But I think the story goes deeper than that.
I don’t think it’s meant to be a slam, per se, but perhaps a different way of looking at things. The sisters’ religion looked on love and marriage as illusions. They were to concentrate on the life to come, not this one. But God gave us richly all things to enjoy, after all (1 Timothy 6:17). God’s Word and gifts do not just affect us on a spiritual plane. Some of His good gifts are physical and tactile. He wants us even to eat and drink as unto Him (1 Corinthians 10:31).
When the officer first visits the meeting at the sisters home, their father speaks of Psalm 85:10: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” The translation in the book says “bliss” rather than “peace.” When the officer comes back to the feast so many years later, not a general, he stands up to speak and shares this same verse and talks about grace. So perhaps the author is bringing together the idea that righteous and bliss are not antithetical.
One facet of the tale is the ministry of food. Psalm 104:14-15 says God causes “the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.” Craig Claiborne said, ” Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.”
One article talked about the women caring for each other in their own way. The sisters provided a home, even though their means were meager. Babette made meals to their preferences, even though it must have galled her to do so, until the feast. They all grew to care for and appreciate each other.
Another aspect is to not judge a book by its cover. Though austere, the sisters were genuine and kind. They were wary of Babette’s foreignness at first, but came to see her heart.
Dione Lucas said, “The preparation of good food is merely another expression of art, one of the joys of civilized living.” And this idea of giving through one’s art is mentioned in the story of Babette. She tells the sisters that the people she cooked for in France “had been brought up and trained, with greater expense than you, my little ladies, could ever imagine or believe, to understand what a great artist I am. I could make them happy. When I did my very best I could make them perfectly happy.” Later she quotes Monsieur Papin, “Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost!”
When the sisters lament that Babette will be poor all her life, now that she has spent her fortune, she replies, “Poor? No, I shall never be poor. I told you that I am a great artist. A great artist, Mesdames, is never poor. We have something, Mesdames, of which other people know nothing.”
Here’s the trailer of the film. It’s in Danish with English subtitles.
This article discusses the film and story and the differences between the two.
Have you read or watched “Babette’s Feast”? What did you think of it?
The Two Mrs. Abbottsis the third Barbara Buncle book by D. E. Stevenson. By this time, Barbara Buncle is the first Mrs. Abbott, having married her publisher, Arthur.
In the previous book, Miss Buncle Married, Arthur’s nephew, Sam, worked with Arthur and came to stay with the Abbotts frequently. A neighbor of the Abbotts, a young woman called Jerry, had her own business boarding horses and teaching riding lessons. Over the course of the last book, Sam and Jerry fell in love despite some comical obstacles, and finally married. So Jerry is the second Mrs. Abbott.
In The Two Mrs. Abbotts, WWII has arrived. Sam is away fighting throughout the book, but we have one scene with him. Arthur is only seen at the beginning of the book, unfortunately.
Soldiers camp in huts near Jerry’s house, so Jerry and her longtime cook, maid, and friend, Markie, pull their living quarters to a smaller section of the house and give the soldiers access to their kitchen. All through the day they find soldiers making food, writing home, washing clothes, etc. Markie, a much older woman, becomes a mother figure to the men, helping them compose letters and listening to them talk.
Early in the book, Barbara agrees to host a woman from the Red Cross who has traveled to speak to local women about how they can help. The Red Cross woman turns out to be Susan, Barbara’s closest friend from the first book, and one of the few who was not offended by Barbara’s books about their village.
Barbara does not do much writing in this volume, her time being taken up with her two precocious children and helping in the community.
However, one of her husband’s firms best-selling authors comes to town to speak at a festival. Janetta Walters. Arthur doesn’t like her books much, but they’re popular. There’s nothing wrong with them–they’re just fluffy and unrealistic. But Jannetta is thrown for a loop when a young man assigned to take her around and provide for her needs while in town tells her her books are “rot” and she could “do better.” Jannetta knows not everyone will like her books. This young man has a right to his opinions. He doesn’t mean anything to her, so his views shouldn’t affect her. But they do. Suddenly she is no longer interested in writing, much to the chagrin of her sister, who is dependent on her income.
Jannetta disappears for a while, and just about the time I began to wonder about her, she shows up again in the most clever way.
Another prominent character in this book is Archie Chevis-Cobb, Jerry’s brother. In the last book, he was immature and reckless, assuming he was going to be his aunt’s heir. But she keeps changing her will. In the end, he does inherit. But instead of this making him more spoiled, it sobers him. He wants to fight for his country, but Arthur and others convince him that his farm, which he has brought up to great standards, is needed to support the community.
A number of other smaller plots occur: sullen, sloppy evacuees are a trial to Jerry; Barbara tries to help her young lovesick neighbor through a relationship that is obviously not good for him; a spy is reportedly lurking in the area; Jerry takes in a paying guest, Jane; a runaway girl wants to stay with Jerry and Markie. Markie has a marvelous adventure.
Though Barbara is not as prominent in this book, the stories are delightful. In fact, this might be my favorite of the three books, but that’s with having the background of the first two in mind.
A few of my favorite quotes:
Jane felt glad to have known Markie, for Markie’s example had shown her that you could do humble things splendidly, and be happy doing them—and make others happy.
Janetta sighed. She reminded herself that hundreds of thousands of people enjoyed her stories and showed their appreciation by borrowing her books from libraries—or, better still, buying them and keeping them in their bookcases. She reminded herself of the large “fan mail” that poured into Angleside from all over the world (not only letters, but parcels of food from admirers in America and Canada and South Africa who were anxious to sustain her so that she might continue to delight them with her books).
In time she would realize romance was a good thing in the right place. It was not the whole of life—as Janetta had made it—nor was it entirely foolish, as Jane seemed to think. It was like chocolate cream, thought Archie, a certain amount of it was good for you and extremely palatable; too much of it made you sick.
Mrs. Marvel looked slightly annoyed, for she hated having to use her brain.
I listened to the audiobook, nicely read, as the others were, by Patricia Gallimore. My only complaint is that the narrator changed the voice she used for Jerry from the last book and made her sound snooty, which she wasn’t.
There is one more book that is sometimes included as a Miss Buncle book, The Four Graces. Barbara only appears at the very beginning at a wedding. But some of the other characters from The Two Mrs. Abbotts continue on. I’m enjoying listening to the audiobook of it now.
Though many illnesses and injuries are unseen, we often have a clue when someone is hurt physically. A big bandage or cast. Crutches. A cane. Paleness. Lack of their usual vigor or energy.
But when someone is wounded in spirit, we often can’t tell. Some are quite vocal about what’s going on in their hearts, but others are not.
And even if we are aware that someone is in spiritual, emotional, or mental pain, we forget that it takes time to heal, just like a physical wound does.
These thoughts led me to some other parallels between wounds of the flesh and spirit.
Cleansing. One of the first things we do with a physical wound is clean it out. If someone’s leg was gashed open by an animal or branch, stitching the tear without cleaning is an invitation for infection to set in. Disinfecting can be more painful than the original wound, but it saves pain in the long run.
When we’re wounded in spirit, it’s easy for infection to set in as well in the form of hatred, revenge, bitterness, or unforgiveness. Though everything in us might want to lash out, we need to apply God’s truth to our situation. Holding onto those negative reactions will only cause us more pain. We can look to our Savior, who, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
Medicate. The next step in treating an open wound is to apply an antibiotic and pain reliever to kill germs and aid healing.
We can aid our spiritual healing by soaking ourselves in God’s Word. We can pour out our hearts with the psalmists, who experienced multitudes of inner pain: betrayal, friends turned to enemies, loneliness, guilt, and so much more. Through their anguish, they reminded themselves of God’s loving care and restored their peace.
Protect. A wound needs to be protected from dirt and germs, but also from being bumped. I broke and dislocated my little toe several years ago. Not only was it gently taped, but I had a big medical “boot” to support and protect it. Even with that protection, though, I walked slowly and gave doorways and corners a wide berth the first couple of weeks.
When people’s hearts are wounded, we often forget this step. We encourage them to forgive and trust God, but we forget that they need to be protected. Sometimes people in the church concentrate on restoration of the offender, which they should—but they need to help the wounded heal and protect them as well.
Time. It takes time to heal. There’s just no way to get around it or hurry it. God made our bodies marvelous in their ability to recover. But the process is not instant. While a person heals, they usually need extra rest and a cessation of some of their usual activities.
We forget that emotional and spiritual wounds take time to heal, too. Scripture is absolutely essential to healing, but we don’t apply it like a Band-aid and expect instant results.
So far I’ve been thinking in terms of wounds inflicted by others. But even grief from the loss of a loved one will require rest time and often a lightening of activities, depending on the individual. For more than a year after my mother passed away, I couldn’t endure loud, frothy gatherings. It’s not that I was morose and never laughed. My aunt said something that made us all laugh during my mother’s viewing before guests came, and that helped so much. I didn’t closet myself away from others. But I didn’t go to as many gatherings as I might have otherwise. I remember almost wishing we still had formal seasons of mourning, so “normal” activity would not be expected.
Negative responses. A wounded animal will often snarl and nip at the hand trying to help it, not understanding the intention. Illness isn’t an excuse to blow up at others, but when we’re wounded physically, we might find ourselves struggling to respond patiently to others. I tend to get weepy if I am sick or in pain for very long.
Wounded hearts may also struggle in their responses. They may not understand their need for help. They may not be able to sort out the emotional or mental issues and just think they’re having spiritual problems and need to “get right.” Or they may sense they need help, but others, like Job’s friends, treat their needs as spiritual problems to be fixed rather than emotional wounds which need healing.
Help. When we’re physically hurt, we need help from others. Sometimes we need the aid of a crutch or wheelchair for a while. Sometimes we need others to help us get around, bathe, go to the doctor. I’ve been abundantly blessed when ill by people who provided meals, watched my children, took them to the park for an outing, or cleaned my bathroom floors.
We need help from others when we’re wounded inwardly as well. We may just need someone to listen, cry with us, pray with us. Or we may need professional counseling. There’s no shame in needing help to cope. We should be available and willing to support each other.
Scars. Sometimes physical wounds leave a scar. Some say their healed broken bones ache when bad weather is coming. Some illnesses, like a heart attack or stroke, leave changes in our ability to function even when the original illness has been treated and healed. Nerves that have been affected may cause numbing or shooting pain or odd sensations.
Inward wounds can leave lasting results as well. Some areas of our hearts may remain a sensitive.
Post-traumatic stress. I read the account of a woman who had been hit by a bus while crossing a street. She said even a year later, some traffic situations caused anxiety. After I recovered from transverse myelitis, loud, busy places would set my nerves on edge. Since my illness started with my left hand feeling numb, like I had slept on it wrong, that feeling in any part of my body would cause panic. It’s not so much of a problem now, twenty-eight years later: I know those weird sensations come and go and don’t mean another attack is imminent.
Those with wounded spirits experience triggers as well. A woman who has been attacked may shy away from dark lonely places and may panic at feeling pinned down. Someone who has suffered a home invasion may start at any weird noise.
Some post-traumatic responses may fade over time. Some may not.
Results. Suffering a wound or illness can make us more compassionate to other wounded people. Some who have suffered at the hands of others have championed causes to help battle the offense, like Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Suffering spiritually or emotionally can help us be more compassionate as well, more sensitive to those in need. The “God of all comfort . . . comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3b-4).
Grace. Whatever God has allowed to happen to us, inwardly or outwardly, He doesn’t leave us alone to flounder. Many people who undergo trials will say that while they would never have chosen them, they’d never want to trade what God taught them during that time or the closeness they felt to Him.
We need His grace not only to heal, to get through the inconveniences and irritations of treatments and recuperation, but also for the aftermath as well. Some illnesses leave us a “new normal” or with new limitations. But He wants us to depend on Him. God’s grace is sufficient for all. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work) (2 Corinthians 9:8). He promises His strength in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
This is a larger topic than one blog post can cover. A few weeks ago I wrote about ways to heal from past hurts. There are many reasons God allows suffering and many aspects of healing and ministering to each other.
But we can seek God’s grace to be tender, patient, kind, and sensitive to each other’s needs. We can ask His wisdom for the best way to help and to point others to the One who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).
Does Maturity Still Matter? HT to Challies. “The spectacle of businesses, journalistic organizations, and even ministries catering to their ‘most emotionally immature’ members is familiar. Even more important is the dynamic Sayers describes, whereby those hyperactive members become ‘de facto leaders,’ because their actual leaders—and, by extension, their peers—come to see avoiding controversy as job number one.”
Forgiving Ourselves, HT to Challies. “If God’s forgiveness of us is to be the paradigm for our forgiveness of others, is it, therefore, also to be the paradigm for our forgiveness of ourselves? And could this then be a solution to all the problems we face in regard to our own failures and sins?”
Mama Bear, HT to the Story Warren. “As moms, our job is to raise these little people who have been entrusted to us and teach them to be capable, productive adults who chase after God. Perhaps the largest part of that is teaching them how to deal with when things in life don’t go the way they want,” whether due to their own shortcomings or someone else’s perceived unfairness. We need balance here–it’s possible to go too far one way or the other.
It’s the first Friday of June, a good time to stop and remember the best parts of the last week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.
1. Lunch out with the family. Jim suggested going to Texas Roadhouse after church Sunday with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. The food was great and we enjoyed time together. This particular location was very loud, though, which was uncomfortable. Jim had bought extra ribs and let me have some of his leftovers the next day. 🙂 Plus we had extras of their rolls and butter, which are some of their best features.
2. Memorial Day. I always like to watch the National Memorial Day concert on PBS the Sunday night before Memorial Day. they always include a few stories of those who have given their lives in the battle for freedom, reminding us what this day is all about.
We went with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy to a picnic area near Douglas Dam for lunch Monday. Timothy is greatly interested in dams, and I am amazed at the details he knows about the different locals ones and how they work.
In all honesty, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about driving 40 or so minutes for a cookout. But it was fine, and I enjoyed the day. I thought the place would be packed out on Memorial Day, but it wasn’t. We had our picnic area mostly to ourselves. Jim got the food and supplies ready for the outing and cooked burgers there. We took the RV so we had cooking supplies, shelter if it rained–and a bathroom. 🙂 I had found a game on sale at Hobby Lobby and brought it–it was kind of like corn hole, except it used rubber balls and had a small trampoline-like stretchy frame where we were supposed to bounce the balls on before they went into the pockets. That turned out to be fun, and Timothy enjoyed setting it up in different areas.
Jim and I had never been to this dam before, and saw directions to an upper and lower area. We turned to the lower. We drove to the upper area afterward and decided that if we ever went again, we’d go the upper route–there was a lovely view of the dam, river, and hills.
Corn hole-type game
Mittu made cupcakes.
View of the dam from our picnic area
View from the upper picnic area and overlook
3. A regular dentist cleaning went well, much better than the last one where some significant damage was found under a bridge. I still need to decide what to do about that tooth–neither the dentist or endodontist can give me clear direction about whether to pull it or retreat it, so it’s basically up to me. But at least no new damage was found. The hygienist even complimented me on my oral care. 🙂 Plus, last time I had a severe occurrence of vertigo, so I was especially praying that would not happen again. Thankfully, it didn’t.
4. An Audible coupon. I received notice that I had earned a $10 gift coupon with Audible during their promotion. I had not even known this one was going on. The next audiobook I wanted to listen to was $10.99, so that worked out nicely.
5. Jesse’s trip to RI to visit Jeremy. He got home safely, and they both said they had a great time. We’re getting together Saturday to hear more about it and see pictures.
Bonus: After a grocery store excursion this week, I got to thinking about some of the supply issues we had during and after the pandemic. Thankfully, we never lacked anything we seriously needed during all that time. Sometimes it took stops to two or three stores to find things, or we had to order them online. What we couldn’t find, we could live without. But now it seems like things are back to normal in that regard.
Stray Thoughts 