This year I've read quite a few books. When I began writing these posts in earnest, I decided that at the end of the year I would write a book review on one book - I hadn't decided at the time - I finished in the course of the year. I've read quite a lot of really amazing books over the course of the year, but the most gripping by far has been A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. I cried and laughed and cried again as I read this book. Sheldon is a master storyteller; his story not only captures the attention but grips the soul.
Sheldon tells his own story of beauty in love, in loss, and in grief. His goal is not merely to record his own story, but to tell a greater story. In the beginning of the book we find Sheldon living as a pagan in the most literal sense of the word; he worships beauty as the pinnacle of the world around him. He gives no thought to the idea of a God or higher Being; he is too busy serving and delighting in beauty.
By the end of the story, Sheldon is a very different man. Throughout the course of his - and his wife, Davy's - life, he has come to realize that there is a greater Beauty than the small world they have created. As beautiful and whimsical it was, their own universe pales in comparison to the beauty and glory of the Almighty God's. God, in the course of time, takes ahold of and transforms their hearts.
Sheldon's book gives the reader a glimpse of his life with God, as well as the loss and grief he faced when death took his wife. He is open about his struggle within his newfound faith before her death. He contrasts the division of his heart, torn between his love of Christ and his love of beauty, with Davy's own single-minded devotion to Christ. It becomes a more stark contrast as her life fades and then is gone. In the belly of his grief, Sheldon discovers eternity and with it the life Davy has still in Christ.
He says of his grieving, "The pain of the thousand deaths of past Davys in earthly flesh was worthwhile, not only because the joy outweighed the pain, but because I touched her soul. I knew her, at least partially, as her - and my - Incarnate Lord must do."
Sheldon comes to see his loss in light of eternity. Through his remembrances of Davy he catches a glimpse of how his Lord Jesus must know her, and him also. In his pain he finds joy, in his loss he discovers hope, and in death he encounters eternity.
This is a book is one that I could (and probably will) read again and again. I was caught up and carried by this man's story, the closeness with which many parts related to my own, and the hope found in Christ that it ultimately pointed me to.
Sheldon tells his own story of beauty in love, in loss, and in grief. His goal is not merely to record his own story, but to tell a greater story. In the beginning of the book we find Sheldon living as a pagan in the most literal sense of the word; he worships beauty as the pinnacle of the world around him. He gives no thought to the idea of a God or higher Being; he is too busy serving and delighting in beauty.
By the end of the story, Sheldon is a very different man. Throughout the course of his - and his wife, Davy's - life, he has come to realize that there is a greater Beauty than the small world they have created. As beautiful and whimsical it was, their own universe pales in comparison to the beauty and glory of the Almighty God's. God, in the course of time, takes ahold of and transforms their hearts.
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| Vanouken and his wife, Davy |
He says of his grieving, "The pain of the thousand deaths of past Davys in earthly flesh was worthwhile, not only because the joy outweighed the pain, but because I touched her soul. I knew her, at least partially, as her - and my - Incarnate Lord must do."
Sheldon comes to see his loss in light of eternity. Through his remembrances of Davy he catches a glimpse of how his Lord Jesus must know her, and him also. In his pain he finds joy, in his loss he discovers hope, and in death he encounters eternity.
This is a book is one that I could (and probably will) read again and again. I was caught up and carried by this man's story, the closeness with which many parts related to my own, and the hope found in Christ that it ultimately pointed me to.
