{"id":266,"date":"2010-06-11T08:43:33","date_gmt":"2010-06-11T08:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/06\/what-im-reading-books-a-maze-of-grace-by-trish-ryan.html"},"modified":"2010-06-11T08:43:33","modified_gmt":"2010-06-11T08:43:33","slug":"what-im-reading-books-a-maze-of-grace-by-trish-ryan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/06\/what-im-reading-books-a-maze-of-grace-by-trish-ryan.html","title":{"rendered":"What I’m Reading: Books: A Maze of Grace by Trish Ryan"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"51cWYLpTKzL._SS500_.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A friend of mine once looked on my bookshelf and said,
\n“Spinach salad.”<\/p>\n

“Excuse me?”<\/p>\n

“You read spinach salad books,” she said. “Not brussel
\nsprouts, which are good for you but hard to swallow. Not junk food. But books
\nthat are both tasty and good for you. Like spinach salad. With no bacon.”<\/p>\n

She had a point. I have no patience for beautiful prose that
\ndoesn’t advance a good story. And no interest in books whose words and ideas
\nwon’t linger after I’m done. <\/p>\n

My good friend Trish Ryan’s<\/a> second book, A Maze of Grace: A Memoir of Second Chances<\/a><\/i>, is a spinach salad
\nbook, albeit a spinach salad book that includes the bacon. The book is a personal
\nnarrative, although, as the title suggests, it doesn’t follow a linear
\nchronological path. The chapters hold together, but it is more a collection of
\nessays than a memoir. It covers the years after her marriage to Steve (the
\nculmination of her first memoir, He Loves
\nMe, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Faith, Hope, and Happily Ever After<\/a><\/i>) and after she first fell in love with Jesus. Ryan
\ndiscusses the pitfalls of married life–What if I have a crush on another man?
\nWhat if I get fat? What if he disappoints me? Side by side, she discusses the
\npitfalls of Christian life–Do I have to change my politics if I follow Jesus?
\nDo I have to convert all my friends and my family? Does prayer really work?
\nWhat if God disappoints me?<\/p>\n

She’s honest: “It took Steve and me approximately three days
\nto realize that talking endlessly about our disagreements didn’t solve them,
\nsex mattered way more than we’d thought, and my feelings lied all the time
\nabout what was really going on.”<\/p>\n

And she can get serious: “Relationships don’t fail because
\nthey’re cut quickly through with a knife or a pair of sharp scissors. Most come
\nunraveled. A tug at one thread that twirls it slowly away from the others…”<\/p>\n

Two things separate this book from a run-of-the-mill
\nmarriage memoir. One, Ryan approaches her marriage with the eyes of newfound
\nfaith in Jesus, which includes trust that God’s directions for relationships
\nare better than the ones advocated by Cosmo and Sex and the City. Two, the fact
\nthat Ryan is a relatively new Christian who has spent decades trying out other
\nspiritual (and relational) options means that she discusses both her faith and
\nher marriage without relying on Christian buzzwords or clich\u00e9s. <\/p>\n

With all that praise, I had two reservations in reading this
\nbook. One, Ryan talks about whether or not she is still “pro-choice” now that
\nshe has become a Christian. And it isn’t really clear whether the answer is yes
\nor no or why exactly she has come to her new conclusion. There’s a big drumroll
\nand then only a few pages dedicated to the topic. She’s an intelligent woman
\nwith a law degree, and I wanted more–both from a theological perspective and
\nfrom a legal one. I know, I know, ambiguities will always remain with any
\nintense ethical issue, but this section still left me unsatisfied. <\/p>\n

Two, Ryan believes that Jesus loves her. I couldn’t agree
\nmore. And yet, I wondered on occasion whether her relationship with Jesus would
\nbecome something bigger. She writes, “God has given me parking places, jeans
\nthat fit, restored friendships, a red v-neck sweater to replace the one I threw
\naway in anger after some guy told me I looked like Gilligan.” I have no problem
\nwith praying for parking places. And I’m sure Trish would agree with me that God
\ninvites us to pray for a whole lot more, and to participate in work that He is
\ndoing that goes beyond our individual needs. But I still wondered whether the
\ngrandeur of God got lost amidst the intimacy of her relationship with Jesus. <\/p>\n

On the whole, A Maze
\nof Grace<\/i> is an easy read, written in prose that is witty, funny, casual and
\naccessible. Kind of like a spinach salad. With yummy dressing and some bacon.
\nTasty. And good for you. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend of mine once looked on my bookshelf and said, “Spinach salad.” “Excuse me?” “You read spinach salad books,” she said. “Not brussel sprouts, which are good for you but hard to swallow. Not junk food. But books that are both tasty and good for you. Like spinach salad. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}