What Grows in Weary Lands by Tish Harrison Warren is a fantastic read. It tells the stories of what makes the “saints” in our churches such a deep well of understanding about God’s faithfulness and their perseverance. This book is a cup filler and a great reminder of the treasures to be found in Scripture and truly abiding with Christ.
I highlighted several things while reading and posted those notes below…
- What our culture—and what the church—tends to lack are stories of a long, steady continuation in faith. We revel in newness and youthful passion. We might even occasionally laud the wisdom of years—the sages, the gurus, the living legends. But we don’t have categories for the prolonged middle, for the slog, especially if this slog is accompanied by the feeling of abandonment by or distance from God. Here’s the thing, though: We cannot get from newfound ardor to tried and tested wisdom without the winding middle. p. 13
- What is most arduous are often the deepest and most meaningful “goods” in our lives— p. 15
- To go deep means looking with unflinching honesty at the truth of things—the pain in our lives, the sins and weaknesses in ourselves and those around us. It means learning to receive anew the love of God and the rich goodness of life. To go deep requires us to remain with difficult questions, relationships, practices, and commitments, while also remaining alive to God and to ourselves. It requires us to learn to exist, and to thrive, in places of incompleteness, unfulfillment, liminality, and uncertainty. p. 23
- Grace finds us, only ever, in the present tense. p. 57
- Christian hope is born from the belief that the very best things in heaven and earth will not pass away into fire or emptiness, but will be made more solid, lasting, and real—not in some far-off heaven, but in the renewal and resurrection of this beloved world. p. 78
- It’s why our whole culture feels marked by this strange combination of being both bored and restless, weary yet wired. p. 109
- What smartphones often take from us are those little moments of margin in our days, natural times of silence and stillness that we once took for granted: a few minutes’ break between tasks, waiting in traffic or in the grocery line, going to the bathroom, walking from one place to another, lying down in bed at night. These tiny moments were hardly noticeable to us before they were snatched away, filled with information and entertainment. p. 111
- A question I keep returning to, a question I hold on to to keep going in the Christian life, is: Who are the believers that make you want to believe? Whose faithfulness makes you want to be faithful? Surround yourself with these people. Immerse yourself in a church, in a Christian community, whose (albeit imperfect) lives help you learn, see, and seek what is most true, good, and beautiful. Immerse yourself in thinkers throughout time who have asked the questions your soul is shouting and offered you new ones as well. Immerse yourself in the prayers of those who teach you to pray and the songs of those who dare you to sing. Immerse yourself in the stories of saints and works of art that help you to glimpse the wild dance of God in the world. After I spend time with certain friends and mentors, I’ll catch myself longing to know God like they do. Because the God they follow is kind and gentle, but never a pushover. They live as people who have known agony and ecstasy. They have been disappointed and have failed and failed and failed, yet still know themselves as beloved. To me, they are a walking, breathing apologetic. They make me want to believe. p. 135
Categories:
