Tags
beauty, books, faith, fiction, literature, Paul Harding, quotations, quote, Tinkers, Winter
“Your cold mornings are filled with the heartache about the fact that although we are not at ease in this world, it is all we have, that it is ours but that it is full of strife, so that all we can call our own is strife; but even that is better than nothing at all, isn’t it?
And as you split the frost-laced wood with numb hands, rejoice that your uncertainty is God’s will and His grace toward you that that is beautiful, and a part of a greater certainty, as your own father always said in his sermons and to you at home.
And as the ax bites into the wood, be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it.
And when you resent the ache in your heart, remember: You will be dead and buried soon enough.” ― Paul Harding, Tinkers. (Bellevue Literary Press January 1, 2009) Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2010
Poignant prose and good reminders about perspective. Being alive is a gift.
Yes, it is. I read Tinkers a few years ago, very short book, but profound.
Maybe I’ll check it out!
Lovely excerpt.
😊
Thanks Deborah. Reminds me of the phrase “blessed unrest…” Have been reading that book by Paul Hawken, and he based his title on a borrowed phrase from a conversation between Agnes De Mille and Martha Graham.
That’s interesting. Is that the title of his book, Blessed Unrest?
Yes….a good book.