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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis writing honestly about losing his wife. It’s raw and messy, and that’s what makes it so powerful. He talks about how grief hits in waves, sometimes it feels unbearable, other times it feels like nothing at all and how it changes the way you remember someone. It doesn’t give you answers, but it makes you feel less alone in how unpredictable and painful grief can be.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
reflective
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I did not read it, because I was going through a time of grief and now I am definitely not looking forward to the day I will need to read it again, but I know I will and I wish I had the choice not to...
Me ha gustado muchísimo como trata el duelo y su discordancia con la fe, como habla de Dios y luego se reconcilia con él.
I chose this book because I've been going through a private grief. It's not the death of a spouse, but the grief ebbs and flows. I've been struggling with it for the past few years and I thought that maybe some of the thoughts from C.S. Lewis would help me process my own feelings and loss.
"Only a real risk tests the reality of belief. Apparently the faith - I thought it faith - which enables me to pray for the other dead has seemed strong only because I have never really cared, not desperately, whether they existed or not. Yet I thought I did" (23).
This quote could cover a multiple of prayer requests. I claim that I believe God is the great physician, both capable and willing to heal anyone. But when faced with a life and death illness of someone close to me, did I still believe? Perhaps. But overall, my faith is not as strong as I believed it was. I didn't know this weakness until I faced some of the same hardships others have requested prayers for.
This next quote really hit me hard. I have thoughts some of these same things but have not been able to reconcile the thoughts with my life circumstances.
"'Because she is in God's hands.' But if so, she was in God's hands all the time, and I have seen what they did to her here. Do they suddenly become gentler to us the moment we are out of the body? And if so, why? If God's goodness is inconsistent with hurting us, then either God is not good or there is no God: for in the only life we know He hurts us beyond our worst fears and beyond all we can imagine. If it is consistent with hurting us, then He may hurt us after death as unendurably as before it" (27-28).
I know that people would argue that God does not hurt us, that He only allows us to get hurt by evil or by Satan. But if I'm honest, that seems just as cruel. "Yes, I could save you from this excruciating pain. But you need to experience it so I'm just going to allow it." How do you reconcile this with a loving God?
Did A Grief Observed solve my struggles with grief? No. But it did show me that others hurt as I hurt. I don't feel so alone.
"Only a real risk tests the reality of belief. Apparently the faith - I thought it faith - which enables me to pray for the other dead has seemed strong only because I have never really cared, not desperately, whether they existed or not. Yet I thought I did" (23).
This quote could cover a multiple of prayer requests. I claim that I believe God is the great physician, both capable and willing to heal anyone. But when faced with a life and death illness of someone close to me, did I still believe? Perhaps. But overall, my faith is not as strong as I believed it was. I didn't know this weakness until I faced some of the same hardships others have requested prayers for.
This next quote really hit me hard. I have thoughts some of these same things but have not been able to reconcile the thoughts with my life circumstances.
"'Because she is in God's hands.' But if so, she was in God's hands all the time, and I have seen what they did to her here. Do they suddenly become gentler to us the moment we are out of the body? And if so, why? If God's goodness is inconsistent with hurting us, then either God is not good or there is no God: for in the only life we know He hurts us beyond our worst fears and beyond all we can imagine. If it is consistent with hurting us, then He may hurt us after death as unendurably as before it" (27-28).
I know that people would argue that God does not hurt us, that He only allows us to get hurt by evil or by Satan. But if I'm honest, that seems just as cruel. "Yes, I could save you from this excruciating pain. But you need to experience it so I'm just going to allow it." How do you reconcile this with a loving God?
Did A Grief Observed solve my struggles with grief? No. But it did show me that others hurt as I hurt. I don't feel so alone.
emotional
slow-paced
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
A book written as a journal of grief to ‘ stop the total collapse’ of the author after his much loved wife’s death. I’m going to keep this book as it’s an account of a journey through grief and will use it forever. The author was a deeply religious man and as I’m not that got in the way sometimes, but nevertheless a hugely profound and powerful book. A birthday recommendation