Small Things by Gerry Turcotte
Small Things: Reflections on Faith and Hope
By Gerry Turcotte
Novalis Publishing; 2016
Review by Laura Locke
Dr. Gerry Turcotte is the President of St. Mary’s University in Calgary, a prolific writer, and the recipient of an impressive list of honours, including the Governor General’s International Award for Canadian Studies. One might easily say that he has many “large” accomplishments to celebrate. However, as Turcotte conveys in his latest book, it’s the small things in life that can offer us the most important gifts.
Organized as a series of weekly reflections to span a year of reading, this collection of short essays is both perceptive and engaging. Turcotte unpacks his own life, often in very personal ways, to share the ordinary moments and unexpected surprises that have brought flashes of wisdom. As I read through the book, I started “dog-earing” the pages that really struck a chord with me, or that I wanted to re-visit and ponder. As I finished the book, it was revealing to notice that a very large number of the pages were dog-eared! Many of Turcotte’s insights resonate deeply in my own life… and I’m sure will in yours.
There is a lot of humour in the book as well, that mostly stems from Turcotte’s self-deprecating way of admitting his own mistakes, disappointments and fears. He also includes inspiring and poignant stories about students, teachers, family members and other people that he’s encountered. Some of my favourite essays feature glimpses into his childhood. One bittersweet story that brought tears to my eyes (and there were many) was about his conflicted feelings whenever his mother “intervened” in a problem he was having at school. Her ferocious love was both comforting and mortifying. At the end of the essay he talks about how much he still misses his mother: “What I wouldn’t give to hear her utter what were the five most frightening words she ever said to me: “I’ll take care of it.”’
As an educator myself, I love his stories about the joys and challenges of teaching, and the importance of encouraging students to go beyond learning facts and figures to become “fully-souled” individuals who “dare to fail”. As an editor and writer, I revel in Turcotte’s love for words, which is wonderfully evident in his essays about unfortunate “mishaps” in the wording of emails, church signs and parish bulletins, not to mention his reflections on favourite books, figures of speech, malapropisms and metaphors.There are also many great quotes sprinkled throughout.
All of this is framed in Turcotte’s faith: his search for the presence of God in everyday moments; his joy in exploring how Scripture can shed new light on both our good and not-so-good experiences; and his growing sense of the significance of community in our lives. This book’s gift to all of us is a new appreciation for the beauty and glory of “small things”.
Dr. Gerry Turcotte
The Guest House
(translated by Coleman Barks)
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honourably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
The Weight
My fear
is in getting to know you.
For in those moments of conversation
when I begin to see you more clearly,
I may discover I am not
the loving person I imagine myself to be.
Not loving. Me. Now I’ve said it.
My safety
is my silence and quiet refusal
to stand beside you when you need me or I need you.
I hold my breath tightly, silently,
trying to stop love from moving through me,
giving trouble a solid place to stand.
Forgetting that, like water,
love moves through all things.
Like the tides, it washes over dry souls who wait.
If I could have one thing,
just one thing different,
it would be to touch that stone-cold part of my soul
and give it light.
To walk, wet and shivering,
out of the river of fear
with a heart that no longer needs to hide.
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Art Begets Art: One Artist’s Inspiration by Faye Hall
In her new book Art Begets Art: One Artist’s Inspiration, Winnipeg author and artist Faye Hall asks the question, “Where does inspiration come from?” The answer unfolds through stories, poems, personal insights, and Hall’s beautiful paintings. Her prolific and powerful repertoire of realistic images and abstract works featured throughout, and the stories behind the artwork, makes the book a very engaging read.
Man With Turban
As the title suggests, we come to see that many of Hall’s creations are “beget” by the creations of others: photographs, writings, music and nature itself. Hall has a way of lovingly capturing the spirit behind a poem, a face or a song. Her book is a moving testament to the people and experiences that have touched her life in some way.
The Journey (a painting of the poet Malcolm Guite)
Here are a few examples: the poetry and sonnets of Anglican priest and poet Malcolm Guite; faces from India captured in photos; her mother’s journey through dementia; the inspiring personality and struggles of a dear friend who was a paraplegic; words from a sermon preached at Hall’s church; a tangle of branches glimpsed on a walk in the woods; the happy grin on the face of her 100-year-old uncle.
One intriguing story is her encounter with “Mully Children’s Family”, a charitable foundation founded by Charles Mulli that cares for street children and orphans in Kenya. Hall happened to see a film about the organization, and was inspired to paint a giant mosaic that featured a portrait of Charles Mulli surrounded by many of the faces of children he rescued over the years. This led to Hall being asked to create 32 illustrations for a book published in 2014 called The Biggest Family in the World, a children’s book version of the life of the founder, Charles Mulli, who was himself an abandoned child.
In Art Begets Art, Hall describes her own artistic path from childhood – from an elementary art teacher who recognized her gifts, to her parents allowing her to turn the family “root cellar” into her first art studio, to a career in advertising design.
Sanctus the Heart
She put away her oil paints and canvases as her life’s path wound its way through marriage, children, suddenly finding herself a young widow, and then years of caring for her elderly mother. But a new marriage and job ‘re-booted’ her life, and it wasn’t long before Hall found herself picking up her brushes and oil paints again.
Bliss in the Woods
Faye Hall’s book, with wonderful examples of her artwork sprinkled throughout, is a delight for the eye and the soul. As she reveals the sparks that light her own creative fire, she encourages us to open our own eyes and ears and hearts, and remember that inspiration is everywhere.
All artwork on this page by Faye Hall. Click on each to see enlarged image.
Faye Hall
Art Begets Art: One Artist’s Inspiration may be purchased from Amazon.ca or friesenpress.com
Find Faye on Facebook or visit her website at www.fayehall.com
Song to the Creator
Illumination of choirs of angels, from Hildegard’s Scivias (“Know the Ways”), her three-volume work of visionary theology.
Song to the Creator (O Verbum Patris)
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
(Translated by Barbara Newman)
You, all-accomplishing
Word of the Father
are the light of primordial
daybreak over the spheres.
You, the foreknowing
mind of divinity,
foresaw all your works
as you willed them,
your prescience hidden
in the heart of your power,
your power like a wheel around the world,
whose circling never began
and never slides to an end.
Poem and images are in the public domain.
landmarks lost
landmarks lost
there’s no north no compass
in the sewer of impatience
desperation drowns out choice
and cowardice quakes up reasons
to fly the panic flag
shall I walk the plank
look overboard
or take any port in the storm
shall I turn the rudder
in the womb of what’s next
or search and scratch
for the finger of direction
but I call the bluff
and pray a may-day
and launch the lifeboat
into illusion’s lies
purity’s peace now anchored
on His majesty’s mast
and I fly the freedom flag
Anne Laidlaw, artist, poet and writer, lives in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Her poetry has appeared in Mamashee, won several awards in the Sault Ste. Marie Arts Council Annual Poetry Competition and won an award in the Utmost Christian Writers Poetry Contest. She has published articles in Catherine, Evangelizing Today’s Child and Church Educator. An award-winning artist, Anne has taught intermittently at the Art Gallery of Algoma and at other workshops. She has also written and taught Bible studies and spoken at women’s conferences and retreats.
To see some of Anne’s artwork, visit http://www.algomaartsociety.ca/component/k2/item/25-anne-laidlaw
Anne can be reached at artist1750@yahoo.com
Two Books on Neuroplasticity by Norman Doidge
The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge; Penguin Books; 2007.
The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity by Norman Doidge; Viking Penguin Books; 2015.
Can we change our brains? Canadian psychiatrist and bestselling author Norman Doidge thinks we can.
Doidge has written two books about the amazing malleability of the brain. His latest book goes one step further and explores the treatment of brain injuries and illnesses through neuroplastic healing. According to Doidge, many conditions previously thought to be pretty much untreatable, such as MS and dementia, can be greatly improved and sometimes healed through techniques such as intense exercise, visualization, singing, tongue exercises or low level laser therapy.
Doidge explains:
“The common wisdom was that after childhood the brain changed only when it began the long process of decline; that when brain cells failed to develop properly, or were injured, or died, they could not be replaced. Nor could the brain ever alter its structure and find a new way to function if part of it was damaged. The theory of the unchanging brain decreed that people who were born with brain or mental limitations, or who sustained brain damage, would be limited or damaged for life.” 1
In fact, according to Doidge’s read on recent research, the reality is quite the opposite. He quotes the claims of one of the leading researchers on brain plasticity, Michael Merzenich, who is a professor emeritus neuroscientist at the University of California: that brain exercises may be as useful as drugs to treat diseases as severe as schizophrenia; that plasticity exists from the cradle to the grave; and that radical improvements in cognitive functioning – what we learn, think, perceive and remember – are possible even in the elderly.2
According to Doidge’s books, we should not be surprised that when we spend time practicing to hone our skills and shape our behaviors, we affect not only our muscles and joints, but also our nerves and brain cells as well.
Both books are as hopeful as they are divisive. Some will find the first book somewhat optimistic but untested; the second book even more so. Both are a light read for some, while others will think them too dense and scientific. In my view, both books walk the right line between both extremes, presenting engaging stories and just enough scientific background to back up most claims without becoming pedantic and boring.
As I mentioned, the second book goes farther than the first, though it does bounce around a bit. Included are a number of loosely connected chapters about innovative treatments that have brought remarkable results for conditions ranging from chronic pain to Parkinson’s, blindness to dyslexia. It promotes the efficacy of a wide variety of methods, which in every case draw upon our brain’s remarkable adaptability and applications of neuroplasticity.
Personally, I like knowing about new methods in the science of health, even if they are presented somewhat chaotically and are somewhat unorthodox in style. Some readers might conclude that a number of these innovative therapies are quackery, while others will be overjoyed that such new methods exist – and will be impatient to benefit from them, dismayed that they are not widely available. After all, if you have dementia, or simply worry about it, as most of us in the second-half of life do, rare books like these can at least give us hope that something good is being researched, and might possibly result in methods we can employ for ourselves or our loved ones.
For anyone the least bit inclined to believe these treatments might work, Doidge challenges us to accept there is much about the brain that we currently do not understand. In fact, I was reminded by reading these books that there is something awesome about the way we are made and the One who made us, which is something to celebrate.
It also occurred to me that Jesus was constantly challenging people, too. He questioned their assumptions and turned them inside out, uttering paradoxes and telling mysterious open-ended parables.
If nothing else, these books provide a long overdue way of catching up our thinking about thinking, alerting us to a few methods that have been used with some success for many decades, and in some cases, centuries. More than that, they challenge us to seriously consider our untapped potential. The second book dares to propose that we have in-built powers to heal.
Why this area of research seems to challenge orthodox medical practitioners may be precisely because it stretches our brains, as well as our paradigms, about healthcare. Perhaps we all need to take a good look at our assumptions, to take a fresh look at the way we perceive, to be open to a new revolution in the way we think.
- Norman Doidge; The Brain that Changes Itself (New York, Penguin Books, 2007) pg. xvii
- Doige, pg. 46
There Should be a Word
There Should be a Word
By Susan Plett
for the way she stirs
pours, measures
the angle of her arm
shadow of her hand
at the stove
for the bend of her body
as she moves
steeped in sureness
to retrieve something fragrant
hearty, from the oven
if there was a word for that
I could paint her as clearly
as God sees her
whatever it is
I want a place
at her kitchen table
Autumn
Autumn
by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
(translation by Robert Bly)
The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning “no.”
And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.
We’re all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It’s in them all.
And yet there is Someone, with hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.
Two Treasures – Dialogues with Silence and The Gift of Being Yourself
I recently came into possession of two books that have been spiritually refreshing as well as very engaging.
Dialogues with Silence: Prayers and Drawings of Thomas Merton was a gift from my husband. We are both longtime Merton fans, and are always excited to find something new written by or about him. This book is my first exposure to Merton’s rarely seen, stark line drawings – mostly of his fellow monks, as well as other spiritual subjects such as Mary and Christ. The drawings provide a new glimpse into Merton’s artful playfulness, and also his pleasure in seeing God in those around him. The accompanying prayers beautifully reflect Merton’s yearning for a closer connection with the Father.
Editor Jonathan Montaldo is director of the Thomas Merton Centre at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. He has done a stellar job of gathering together these prayers and drawings from Merton’s poetry, journals, letters and books.
Here is one of Merton’s many stirring prayers found in the book:
Cradle me, Holy Spirit, in your dark silver cloud
And protect me against the heat of my own speech,
My own judgments, and my own vision.
Ward off the sickness of consolation and desire,
Of fear and grief that spring from desire.
I will give you my will
For you to cleanse and rinse of all this clay.
Whether you are a long-time Merton fan or would like an introduction, Dialogues with Silence is a small treasure, to be savoured slowly.
The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self Discovery is a book that was chosen by a group of wonderful women in my life. For years, we have been getting together once a week for Bible study, book discussions and prayer. Reading this book together helped us to deepen our relationship with ourselves, with each other, and with God. It sparked many intimate and lively discussions about the false selves we hide behind, and how we can discover – and grow to love – our true identities as children of God. I found that as we thoughtfully took our time reading and discussing each chapter, it was as if we were unwrapping a gift – the gift of self-acceptance.
Benner writes with plenty of compelling stories…and a healthy dose of honesty. He encourages us as readers to be equally honest, suggesting that it’s easy to lie to ourselves when we speak of our relationship with God. “So often our cliché-ridden God-talk is seriously out of touch with our actual experience.” Benner does more than just give a discourse on his ideas; he also suggests we put some of it into practice. Each chapter ends with a challenge, such as taking time to ask God to reveal to us “what makes us feel most vulnerable, and most like running for cover.” The results of these exercises provided much fodder for discussion in my women’s group.
David Benner is a well-known author, psychologist and professor of Psychology and Spirituality at Richmond Graduate University in Atlanta, Georgia. He has written or edited over 30 books. In The Gift of Being Yourself, he skillfully leads readers on a path for growth – growth in knowledge of God, and growth in being lovingly candid about one’s own nature. It’s a very helpful book for anyone interested in pursuing true, lasting transformation from within.
Dialogues with Silence: Prayers and Drawings of Thomas Merton
Edited by Jonathan Montaldo
Harper Collins, 2004
The Gift of Being Yourself
By David G. Benner
InterVarsity Press, 2004
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