The Musings of Anne Lamott

One of my favorite writers on the spiritual life is author Anne Lamott. It isn't that she's theological or deep, but refreshingly disarmingly honest about her trials and struggles (think of a female Donald Miller--with a more storied past). See, that's what happens when the average person in the pew (who happens to be a novelist who came to Christ late in life, and her testimony starts with the mother of all curse words). She wrote a book called Traveling Mercies, which is, in Christianese, her testimony.

Well, she wrote another book, entitled Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. I thought I'd let you in on some of her stuff:

"You've got to love this in a God--consistently assembling the motleyest people to bring, into the lonely and frightening world, a commitment to caring and community. It's a centuries-long reality show--Moses the stutterer, Rahab the hooker, David the adulterer, Mary the homeless teenager. Not to mention all the mealy-mouthed disciples. Not to mention a ragin insecure narcissist like me."

(on making her teenage son go to church with her)
"Then why do I make him go? Because I want him to. We live in bewildering, drastic times, and a little spiritual guidance never killed anyone. I think it's a fair compromise that every other week he has to come to the place that has been a tap for me: I want him to see the people who loved me when I felt most unlovable, who have loved him since I first told them I was pregnant, even though he might not want to be with them. I wnat him to see their faces. He get the most valuable things I know through osmosis. Also, he has no job, no car, no income. He needs to stay in my good graces...And there are wors things for kids than to have to spend time with people who love God. Teenagers who do not go to church are adored by God, but they don't get to meet some of the people who love God back. Learning to love back is the hardest part of being alive."

(a graduation speech)
"I bet I'm beginning to make some parents nervous--here I am, bragging of being a dropout, and unemployable, and about to make a pitch for you to follow your creative dreams, when what parents want is for their children to do well in their field, to make them look good, and maybe also to assemble a tasteful fortune.

But that is not your problem. Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to live it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it, and find out the truth about who you are."

(on speaking at San Quentin maximum security prison)
"I was glad to be there for a number of reasons. First of all, because Jesus said that whatever you did to the least of his people, you did to him, and the lifers in penitentiaries are the leastest people in this country...He also promised that God forgives the unlovable and the unforgivable, which means most of us--the lifers, me, maybe you...Jesus made a point of befriending the worst and most hated, because his message was that no one was beyond the reach of divine love, despite society's way of stating the opposite. God: what a nut."

Anne Lamott, even though you'll never read this, your transparency and honesty has encouraged me in my walk with Christ. Thank you. Thank you very much.