Sustainability --And Books

What comforts you? 

Actually, that is not the question I want to ask. I don't know that we should be comforted right now. This is a time of necessary discomfort, requiring real transformation, but that is another topic.

Instead, what I want to know is what sustains you? 

Along with morning meditation, Sunday morning worship, walks in the neighborhood, and connection with loving family and friends, what so often sustains me is the companionship of a good book. 

These last few days Jayber Crow, The Life Story of Jayber Crow, Barber, of the Port William Membership as Written By Himself, a novel by Wendell Berry, has been my companion. I have read a few pages while having lunch in my "Paris" garden and then returned to it, after leaving my desk and before fixing dinner. 

In the evening I moved into the snug where the windows were open, and I could hear the unmistakable drone of helicopters overhead and the blaring sirens on their way to who knows what. Sometimes I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, hoping, hoping, hoping, praying, praying, praying. But then I returned to the page, often re-reading a sentence or two or even a paragraph, but reading, reading, reading.

And then in the middle of the night after sleeping a few hours, when I woke up and knew that sleep was not likely to return immediately, I moved into the living room, Jayber Crow in my hands. Iwas struck by and yes, relieved by the silence. No sirens. No helicopters. I sat in the glow of one lamplight and read until I knew I could sleep again. 

I have read a number of books in the last month, but this one was more than a good read, a few hours of enjoyable entertainment or escape. Instead, this book in its exploration of love and community, spoke to my soul. Jayber says at one point, " I felt the presence of memories I could not remember," and that's how this book made me feel in both its specificity and at the same time its universality. 

           Maybe you don't have to love your enemies. 
           Maybe you just have to act like you do. And maybe
           you have to start early. p. 142

I walked the streets and roamed the countryside with Jayber and sat in his barbershop where he and his customers and friends commented on their world. I lived with Jayber and explored his life with him, and I hope I learned from him. I could easily wonder why it has taken me so long to read this book, but the timing is clear to me. I needed Jayber (and Berry's) spiritual companionship right now.

I needed this sustenance, and I feel sustained. 

I can't end today's post without mentioning one other source of sustenance in my life. Our backyard, faithfully sustained by the resident gardener. Glorious. 











An Invitation
What sustains you? I would love to know. 

More Favorite May Books
1.  The Likeness by Tana French. More than a mystery, but a psychological study.
2.   Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield. Not quite believable story, but that added to its charm.
3.   The Weight of Ink Rachel Kadish.  Back and forth in time story about a woman who becomes a scribe for a blind rabbi in London in the 1600's and then the discovery of those documents in current times. Winner of the National Jewish Book Awards. Loved it.
4.   Good Grief, Healing Through the Shadow of Loss by Deborah Morris Coryell. I read this after my mother died in 2003 and it was helpful then, but now after my father's death, I gained even more from her insights and wisdom.