The Traveler's Gift

Posted Thu Nov 24, 2005 in Books

I finished two books this week. The first was Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies and the second was Andy Andrews The Traveler’s Gift. I’d like to spend a little time writing about both books.

Traveling Mercies is a series of stories by Lamott about her personal history and her reflections on life, filtered through her beliefs. She’s brutally honest about where she’s been. Her life was not an easy life. There was plenty of booze, drugs, and sex, and not in any reasonable context.

Somewhere along the way, she found she believed in God. There was no blinding flash of light in which the heavens opened and thunder proclaimed His existence. It was a series of small things, each of which was common enough, but the way that they happened to her made her question the staunch atheism of her father. Eventually she came to faith.

Her faith isn’t an easy faith. No, it’s full of questions and doubts and a kind of bumpiness that many will find uncomfortable because it isn’t tidy the way faith is in the mainstream Christian community. No, Lamott’s faith is not dress-up Sunday faith; it’s the real thing, born of sweat and heartache and a real desire to do the right thing, even when it’s hard to do. I admire that.

Lamott and Atkinson would make an interesting pair to hang out with in a coffeeshop or local bar. I would love to be in a conversation with both of them at the same time.

Right after I finished Traveling Mercies, I picked up my copy of The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews. It’s odd how sometimes God puts books together for me. I didn’t know this, but Andrews is more mainstream Christian than my other current reads. He’s well known on the lecture/motivational speaker circuit, which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just very different than the hard looks at faith that Lamott and Atkinson bring.

I read The Traveler’s Gift in two sittings. It went very fast because it’s a much lighter book. While the story of the protagonist is difficult, and I certainly relate to the despair that David Ponder feels, Andrews has a few points to make with his story of a man’s change of circumstances which he does with a story about Ponder’s interaction with seven historical figures at critical points in their own lives.

I loved these vignettes from history. I loved how Andrews puts flesh on the old bones of these characters and brings some wisdom from each as they are at some pivotal point in their respective lives. The seven decisions that are Andrews’ thesis are important and they are good thoughts.

Like many important principles, the seven decisions are not intellectually difficult. In the same fashion, my students know the principles of conservation of mass, conservation of energy, and conservation of momentum, too, but that does not make those principles easy to apply. Neither are the seven decisions easy to apply. They require a change of thinking and that change may be the most difficult thing any of us, including me, attempts to do.

So I have a copy of the seven decisions in my journal. In fact, I’m going to print out a copy and put them in the pocket of my paper journal so I have a “parchment” of my own to refer to. I think they are that good.

One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned about my depression is this: I can’t change my past. Those things are all over now. What I did and what others did to me are done and over with. But I don’t have to believe the future will be the same. I don’t have to let the things of my past have power over me. I can effect a different future, should I choose to. That choice is mine to make. While God might already know what choice I will make, the free will he gave me means it’s my choice; he did not make me his puppet. So, if I change my thinking I can change my future. I think this is what Andrews is trying to say.

These are both good books. They are very different, though, but still very good. It was an interesting juxtaposition to read them so closely together. I’m glad I did.