Small Graces follow-up

Good morning, everyone.

I told you I would post a few of the responses I received as to why readers appreciated/liked Small Graces. As I noted in an earlier blog post, you did not see them when they were posted because I had to cull them out of hundreds of inexcusable spamming posts for online casinos, viagra, and mortgage refinancings.

These are a few snippets from what I received:

. . . caught my eye – it was such a pretty book. And I liked the title.

. . . Profound lessons in simple but beautiful language, person to person.

. . .reaffirms that gratitude itself is the grand prize . That which leads us to this end, be it a new Corvette, a good cup of coffee on cool summer morning, or (for me today) an arthritic joint which choose to be quite, are merely a means, a path to a place of spirit, that place universally sought.

. . . The writing style fits the subject matter (good, clear poetic prose is hard to come by).

. . .short enough, that if you give it to someone , you might expect it to be read rather than put on a shelf. Also, you write to the normal, sensitive , intelligent person a lot of us want to be. You stop and lift a coffee cup early in the morning, communion, thank you.

. . . It’s me. I do belong to organized religion but I find God in the ordinary… in people in nature. I always think about your story of the woman with the light in the AM.. I have been watching “The era of rising affluence” which is not where I need to be, because I don’t fit there. kept me appreciating the gift God gave me of being able to find the beauty in the little things. It brought tears to my eyes this morning and still does to get back to thinking this way again, because no way of my life is the grand way. I believe in the quiet God, in finding God in others. Keep writing, I love how you experience and see life and are gifted to be able to speak it so eloquintly, yet so simple. I really need to stay connected with the simple life, yet I tend to complicate things. In AA we talk about arising and how necessary it is to find God immediately so as not to let our minds start to race and be concerned and how it starts out our day… Your philosophy of living is to me, just the way AA and Alanon teaches us

. . . such wisdom, and true heart

. . . I like the universal appeal of the subject matter: life, nature, love

. . . a book of quiet tenderness.

. . . exposed to me things I have in my life I didn’t realize or took for granted.

. . . Simple book written with great perception.

. . . Many ways to direct our thoughts that are more useful.

. . . Liked simplicity, meditation.

. . . Not a self-help book.

. . . everyday ordinary in-your-life things or happenings made extraordinary by having an “attitude of gratitude”

. . . a spiritual, non-prescriptive dose of calm that heals the soul.

I cannot tell you how helpful all these responses are. There have been others equally as valuable, but I haven’t yet reduced them all to small epigrammatic statements that I can use to define a single, central theme. That is my goal.

As you can tell, I’m thinking about another book. The Joseph project continues, but it has been one long arm wrestling match between my point of view and my editor’s. I will keep you updated as I proceed — and rest assured that it still occupies almost all of my days and nights. But the idea of a new Small Graces-like project has been growing in me as an intellectual and spiritual respite from this fascinating but tedious struggle with the book on Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce.

Keep your thoughts on Small Graces coming. I try to write a quick “thank you” to everyone who writes. Just know that the best way to get your thoughts through is to use the form on the Contact Me page.

Keep writing. I love hearing from you.

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