Acclaimed writer Melissa Febos, author of Whip Smart and the forthcoming Abandon Me, graced us as a guest on the most recent episode of The Mockingcast. During their fantastic interview — would have reposted the whole thing if I could have — Scott read this beautiful excerpt from Abandon Me:

Jonah, whose name means “dove,” is not brave. He simply exhausts all his other choices. The only thing left to choose is God’s will, and even then, after proclaiming his prophecy, Jonah shakes his fist at the Lord. His destiny does not give him peace; it enrages him. It’s not what he wants. He begs God to kill him. But God doesn’t kill Jonah. God’s mercy often doesn’t come in the form of erasure. And the story of Jonah seems a parable of what I have often suspected, that life is a great “choose your own adventure story.” Every choice leads the hero to the same princes, the same cliff. There are alternative routes, but there is only one ending, if you make it there…every love is a sea monster in whose belly we learn to pray.

COMMENTS

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5 responses to “When God’s Will Is the Only Thing Left”

1. Duo Dickinson says:

   02/27/2017 at 10:57 am

   crushingly powerful, because it is devastatingly true: it is brutal to know you never have the thing you want most, control, and absent control there is a limited window for understanding, and that often leaves only the toughest nut, for me, the undeniable reality of faith

   Reply
   • david babikow says:

     03/01/2017 at 9:13 pm

     Thanks Duo, you put it just right.

     Reply
2. ROBERT says:

   05/27/2017 at 4:59 pm

   subscribe

   Reply