A blank page of any sort can be terrifying—a blank screen or “they’re not going to be around anymore tomorrow or the next day or the next day” or “we worked together for however many years and now we’re not going to work together anymore."
[Or there's] the person who lost their job yesterday: What am I going to do? That terror can be read another way as well. Which can be deeply insensitive to say to someone, “Hey, you lost your job, think about what tomorrow may bring.” But the truth is, given a larger perspective, “So ... well ... what do you want to do now?” The whole book is about a paradoxical gift, a sort of bloody, traumatic, awful, strange gift.
In the Jewish tradition, the first thing you do when someone dies is you go over to their house. So the first thing you can give people is your presence. Perhaps in that sense the book is step two or three as opposed to, “Oh, something horrible just happened? You need to start reading.” It may be a while.
I just got a text from a woman who had a relative who took his own life and it wasn’t that long ago and for her the book spoke to her exactly where she’s at. I was interested that she was able ... 'cause sometimes you’re in enough pain and you’re like “Okay, the good side of this? C’mon.” Even the idea of a good side [seems impossible]—but the book isn’t like “Hey there’s a good side”
it’s more like “in the midst of this agony are all sorts of interesting
paradoxes, let’s just sit in them.” I’ve tried to be very respectful of
people and hopefully what people come out of it [with] is real and not sort of manufactured, “Hey you should buck up.” It might be a while.
[Or there's] the person who lost their job yesterday: What am I going to do? That terror can be read another way as well. Which can be deeply insensitive to say to someone, “Hey, you lost your job, think about what tomorrow may bring.” But the truth is, given a larger perspective, “So ... well ... what do you want to do now?” The whole book is about a paradoxical gift, a sort of bloody, traumatic, awful, strange gift.
In the Jewish tradition, the first thing you do when someone dies is you go over to their house. So the first thing you can give people is your presence. Perhaps in that sense the book is step two or three as opposed to, “Oh, something horrible just happened? You need to start reading.” It may be a while.
I just got a text from a woman who had a relative who took his own life and it wasn’t that long ago and for her the book spoke to her exactly where she’s at. I was interested that she was able ... 'cause sometimes you’re in enough pain and you’re like “Okay, the good side of this? C’mon.” Even the idea of a good side [seems impossible]—but the book isn’t like “Hey there’s a good side”
it’s more like “in the midst of this agony are all sorts of interesting
paradoxes, let’s just sit in them.” I’ve tried to be very respectful of
people and hopefully what people come out of it [with] is real and not sort of manufactured, “Hey you should buck up.” It might be a while.
Rob Bell
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