Finding -- (Life Animated by Ron Suskind)

I vaguely remember seeing Life Animated the documentary offered for viewing somewhere, but I've never seen it. Also, I have never read anything by Pulitzer Prize author Ron Suskind (that I can recall). For the more politically literate readers asking where have I been, I can only say that raising children and working left little time for choosing to read mostly political offerings. My introduction to Suskind via his book Life Animated comes because our local library book discussion group chose to read it for the month of February.

I knew right away that this was easily a 4 star book. From the hand of this skilled and gifted non-fiction writer (with all the appropriate facts and details) comes also a gripping story written with style and grace. When I reached page 108, I had raised those 4 stars to 5 and knew I would be buying the book. I buy books because I want to underline and keep something in mind. On this page (which became the first page of many), I want to remember Suskind's discussion of schmaltz and sentimentality. He writes "...for non-fiction [sentimentality gives one's characters] more love than society gives them, because maybe to do so upends the order of things; namely our surety in the ways we measure human values and some of us see ourselves, quite comfortably, as better than others."

After writing that last sentence, I went back and changed the title of this post. I had started with "Understanding", but understanding can lift us readers up as the ones who look down and now can understand. I tried out "Valuing" but even that word could carry with it the idea that I will value those lesser than I. Perhaps, this can also be true of "respect." So, I skipped all of those and went with "Finding" because this book is about finding the treasure within, finding the real person inside every human being, finding how to communicate with someone like Owen Suskind who, at the age of three, lands on the autism spectrum and has lost all speech he had, yet Owen Suskind -- heart, mind, and soul -- is still encased within his body.

The book is also about finding each person's giftedness, finding the inner hero, finding that sidekicks are heroes, finding the affinities which draw a person out of his or her isolation into friendship and kinship.

And, the Disney videos shown with the book in the picture above? You may find yourself wanting to go back and watch a few to see them through Owen Suskind's eyes.

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

There's much in this book for parents whether one has an autistic child or not. Finding your child's affinities, being present to your child, growing through each stage of your child's life. Suskind often refers to a phrase: same and different. Yes, there are some situations that are different because of autism, yet some situations are the same no matter what challenge you and your child is facing.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiritual formation practices: Unlike J. D. Salinger's quote in this book, I trust that it is not possible to love a human being more than God does. That 1 Corinthians 13 passage typically read at wedding services as the goal for couples? God is all that.

Being present and looking for the image of the Creator in every human being, practicing loving each as God loves, would be a good practice. As C.S. Lewis wrote: "There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."

Can You Remind Me What God Is Like?

Last week I received a text from a good friend: "Can you remind me what God is like?" I had to chuckle at my phone's automatic response choices: "Sure"; "Sorry, no"; and "Talk later."

Given circumstances in the world, my friend's request wasn't that unusual. I gave her a longer version (because that's what I typically do) of what children's television host Mr. Rogers said about looking for the helpers. I look for signs of the Imago Dei, the image of God, and I look at His handiwork.

Those familiar with art know that the painting above is a Caravaggio without seeing his name. The Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence bear all the markings and attributes of Caravaggio's work. So, too, with God's handiwork. His creation has marks of His handiwork: beauty, goodness, and incredible skill. Sometimes it bears the marks of astounding mathematically precision, and at other times, it is the irregularities which are amazingly wondrous.

Those irregularities are quite common in people, yet as Dallas Willard writes: "The obviously well kept secret of the 'ordinary' is that it is made to be a receptacle of the divine, a place where the life of God flows" (14). But, some friend will cry out: "This week we have seen humans where no mark of the divine seemed anywhere close!" The divine in them was given over to tin: tin men and women mechanically carrying out what they had been trained to trust in -- a god of hate.

"...C.S.Lewis writes, our faith is not a matter of our hearing what God said long ago and 'trying to carry it out.' Rather, 'The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to "inject" His kind of life and thought, His Zoe [life], into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin'" (Lewis, Mere Christianity, qtd. by Willard, The Divine Conspiracy 20).

Still tin. We walk around daily with much tin in our lives. We don't look like we carry the Imago Dei within us. The beauty of a Caravaggio painting is his mark of reality: Mary is weary, no halo or crown above her head. C.S. Lewis's words from "The Weight of Glory" apply: "Meanwhile the cross comes before the crown and tomorrow is Monday morning."

What do I do with my Monday mornings (and Tuesdays and all the other mornings)?

"A cleft has opened in the pitiless walls of the world, and we are invited to follow our great Captain inside. The following Him is, of course, the essential point" (Lewis).