Does it matter?

I read this book when it first debuted. I don't remember what I thought or if it had an impact. I do remember that my oldest child had recently died. I suppose that event shadowed my memories.

So recently, when my now oldest daughter went to the movies to see this new release, I became curious and read it again. Ten years have passed since that first reading—since my daughter's death—and I'm at a different place, in a different time, and am a different person. This little book spoke to me in ways I didn't know I needed, although I knew I needed something.



The Shack by William Paul Young

Papa again interrupted. "You see, Mackenzie, I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you were able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you; all of every part of you and your day."
Jesus now spoke again. "Mack, I don't want to be the first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than at the top of a pyramid, I want to be at the center of a mobile, where everything in your life—your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities—is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being."


"Let me ask you something. Is what I do back home important? Does it matter? I really don't do much other than working and caring for my family and friends—"
Sarayu interrupted him. "Mack, if anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again."


Thank you, Lord, for being the wind of my dance and giving my dance a purpose.


Melanie

Wednesday with Words