Hope Will Find You: My Search For The Wisdom To Stop Waiting And Start Living (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
I first found Rabbi Levy's writing in Talking to God, a series of prayers and passages that the Rabbi wrote for all manner of situations. This came into play at a period of my life when prayer was introduced to me. Hope will find you is a journey through a dark period of the Rabbi's life; this is a personal tale told in short chapters, with much anguish and periods of just bright, bright observations. I had put the book down halfway through for no reason. Picking it up again, the truth of what she wrote made a very deep connection with me. I hope it does with you as well. The author begins the book describing a call she received from a doctor who diagnosed her daughter with a rare form of ataxia. His call was abrupt and she was devastated. I can relate. I, too, am diagnosed with a rare form of ataxia and my experience with a couple of neurologists was similarly traumatic and devastating.The book chronicles her journey over a seven year period when she and her husband were told they had to wait to see how the disease progressed in their daughter to thereby know if, ultimately, her daughter's disease was terminal or not. It sounds unbelievable, but it actually happens and it's treated very matter-of-factly. My experience was the same. That gives way to the premise of the book: How do you live when you're waiting?It deals with the hopelessness, feelings of futility, the labyrinth that must be navigated when living while waiting, the anger, guilt, injustice, and isolation. While these circumstances bring the question of how to live while waiting quite literally, it's really no different than, say, thinking your life will begin after college, marriage, a divorce, etc. Naomi Levy is my favourite author who is a modern rabbi. I recently learned I am Jewish (as part of my seven year journey), though I was raised a Christian (and maintain my Christian faith). Whether you're Jewish or Christian, you will appreciate the incredible insights and applications she weaves into the tapestry her story weaves. If you are neither Christian nor Jewish, this is still for you. She describes how her view of g-d evolves from the man with the flowing grey beard who stands by ready to save us when we are in peril to the g-d who sees us, walks with us, and is as close as our breath if we stop idolising our suffering long enough to be aware. She shares her husband's view of g-d, as he describes his reason for praying as "covering his bases." He's praying, she writes, to "just in case g-d." If you're struggling and trying to figure out how there can be a g-d in the midst of so much pain, chances are that you will find a kindred spirit in Naomi Levy. I am so grateful she shares her journey, though, because she finds peace in the struggle for an answer and in so doing, she helped me find peace in my struggle, too.She has been in the trenches of life and experienced unbelievable heartache and untold suffering, as when her father was murdered when she was in high school. There are no trite cliches in her books. They come from the heart of someone who has wrestled with real life and real tragedy, yet, she doesn't strike a martyr's pose. She still gets annoyed with her dog, does things like bake cakes with Barbie dolls, and, when she's not in life's waiting room, she's engaged in speaking engagements and leading mixed faith Shabbat services in LA. In other words, Naomi Levy is human, more than human, really. In her journeys she learns to embrace her humanity and as she brings you with her, you find yourself embracing your own humanity.Because this book spans seven years, you get the rare opportunity to experience the contracted, linear thinking about daily problems, as she explains. But you then evolve to see her illustrate how we're able to make connections when our thinking is expansive. How things don't seem so random when we're able to elevate our thinking beyond the immediacy of today.The unsung hero of the book who makes her slow and steady rise to crescendo as the seven years draws to an end is her daughter. I won't share how the book concludes, but the lessons taught by the mother throughout the book become poignant and unforgettably moving as her daughter brings it all together, connecting all the dots at the conclusion of the book. It was a twin journey for me as I read it. My seven year journey will be coming to its conclusion next month. As I near its conclusion, I have experienced it as mother and child. I lost my (adopted) mother (and father) on this journey. They didn't die, they simply decided they didn't want to wait to live and they didn't want to live with me. I lost the rest of the family I'd invested my life in with them, which meant I was in the roe of "mother," fighting the logistical battles and "daughter," the one with the apparent death sentence. I found applicable meaning and comfort in her writing from both perspectives.She writes about how sometimes when we think we have to wait to live, what's really happened is that a door closed behind us. There exists a new vista before us, but we fail to see it because our backs are turned to it as we're facing that closed door, focused on jiggling a locked door knob loose.The ending to my seven year journey is a little different. I'm still diagnosed with a terminal disease and should not have any hope, but rather than degenerating and being less mobile and able to care for myself, I've become steadier, more self-sufficient, take far less medicine, have hands so steady I do my own manicures, and I'm now preparing to move from Miami to Munich. I think you could say, hope found me.Is it possible that you're missing out on living today because you're trying to go back to yesterday? If so, this book will help you let go of yesterday and open your heart to the beauty and adventure that surrounds you. All you have to do is turn around/look up/open your eyes.Well, that and buy this book. ;)Cheers!Melisa L. Rockhill@therockysummit
What do You think about Hope Will Find You: My Search For The Wisdom To Stop Waiting And Start Living (2010)?
This was one of the most amazing books I have ever read. I just loved it.
—Nevermore
I'm enjoying it. Easy to read, message is coming across.
—Lexa390
