Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Book Review - The Waiting Place: Learning to Appreciate Life's Little Delays



The Waiting Place By: Elieen Button

Who is Eileen Button? She is part preacher's wife, part English professor and part newspaper columnist, living in the suburbs of Michigan. The essays in her first book, "The Waiting Place," gently ask us to redefine the way we think of waiting; waiting for the mail, for children to grow up, for a sign from God. Throughout, she reminds us that, as John Lennon sang, life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. 

I love when you read a book and you are just so stunned when you find out that you didn't find the book, but the Lord put the book there for you!  This past week I have found my seld in a sort of Limbo of life. It suddenly seems as if EVERYTHING is hindging on a few different events/oppertunities. It has become very emotional and overwhelming. So, in a moment of deep discouragement I picked up The Waiting Place.

Button writes from a VERY personal place, almost as if writing a letter to me personally, like we are long time friends! She shares funny details, with every word she connects with the reader in such a way that anyone can relate. I loved the way she described moment in her life she has been left waiting, usually with no control over the situation, she observes, she learns, she laughs, she makes notes for later, and when necessary, she cries. I have been in this place so many times in my life, yet always knowing that the Lord is in ultimate control!
After reading this book, I realize that Eileen Button is someone who would be a wonderful friend to have!
Eileen Congrats on your very first book! Well done.


ALSNS grade: A+
ALSNS highly recommends this book

Publisher Description
A collection of essays describing the beauty and humor that can be found in what often feels like a most useless state-The Waiting Place.


We all spend precious time just waiting. We wait in traffic, grocery store lines, and carpool circles. We wait to grow up, for true love, and for our children to be born. We even wait to die. But amazing things can happen if we open our eyes in The Waiting Place and peer into its dusty corners. Sometimes relationships are built, faith is discovered, dreams are (slowly) realized, and our hearts are expanded.


With humor and heart-breaking candor, Eileen Button breathes life into stagnant and, at times, difficult spaces. Throughout this collection of essays she contends that The Waiting Place can be a most miraculous place-a place where beauty can be experienced, the sacred can be realized, and God can be found working in the midst of it all.


Includes stories on waiting for:


the day to end
a place called home
the fish to bite
a baby's healing
church to be over
a husband's return
children to grow
a mother's acceptance
a loved one to die
As Eileen says, "To wait is human. To find life in The Waiting Place, divine."

Product Details
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (June 7, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0849946255
ISBN-13: 978-0849946257


Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson, and was not required to present a positive review in return. 




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