Help,
Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers
Author:
Anne Lamott
Publisher:
New York:
Riverhead Books a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2012
103 pages, ISBN
978-1-59463-129-0, Paperback
Reviewed by Rev. Garth
Wehrfritz-Hanson
Anne Lamott is a popular author
whom many praise, quote and speak and blog about these days. I hadn’t read her
books prior to this one, so I thought I’d find out for myself what she had to
say.
In the “Prelude,” Lamott describes prayer as
“private,” and “communication from the heart to that which surpasses
understanding.” (p. 1) She goes on to tell her readers that she’s not too
concerned about how to name God—which may be an issue for some of her readers
who believe that God should definitely be communicated with by employing
specific names. She believes that one can speak with God in prayer about
anything.
Lamott is a creative writer. In this little
volume, she seems, to this reader, to be a stream of consciousness writer.
There is a flow to the writing. Her turns of phrase are attention-grabbers,
unpredictable, humorous, insightful and more. Yet, at the same time, they are
both her strength and her weakness.
The writing is so colourful and busy that it
goes off in far too many directions too rapidly and, at times anyway, for this
reader more difficult to track. Overall, for Lamott, perhaps the chaos theory
of existence is more attractive than the ordered theory of existence.
Having said all of that, I do appreciate
some of her turns of phrase. Here are three examples that may make readers of
this review curious enough to explore Anne Lamott’s writings.
From the “Help” chapter, concerning seeking
an answer from God: “Yet maybe if you ask God for help in knowing which
direction to face, you’ll have a moment of intuition.”
“The response probably won’t be from God, in
the sense of hearing a deep grandfatherly voice, or via skywriting, or in the
form of an LED-lit airplane aisle at your feet.” (p. 37)
From the “Thanks” chapter, an insight into
the nature of gratitude: “Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails
into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is
where the joy resides. It means you are willing to stop being such a jerk.”
(pp. 56-57)
From the “Wow” chapter, on the wonder, awe,
and amazement of life: “Love falls to earth, rises from the ground, pools
around the afflicted. Love pulls people back to their feet. Bodies and souls
are fed. Bones and lives heal.”
“What can we say beyond Wow, in the presence
of glorious art, in the music so magnificent that it can’t have originated
solely on this side of things? Wonder takes our breath away, and makes room for
new breath. That’s why they call it breathtaking.” (p. 81)
So, if your prayer life has become stale,
boring and dry and a bit too ordered; if you are looking for more creativity in
your prayer life; you may want to read Anne Lamott’s book.
