A “Grace-Full” Life
I was lucky in that my hometown had a marvelous stationery store on Main Street that was the perfect place for a bookish girl to browse. Many people today still recall the unforgettable first-day-of-school smell that permeated its four walls on any given day of the year. To sample the shop’s aromatic inside today, one needs only to open and sniff an old fashioned pencil box, if they still make any.
Eventually I grew to love the greeting card section and especially the cards of Helen Steiner Rice. Spiritual in nature, they touched my fanciful teenage heart with their pretty cursive writing and nature-inspired watercolors. I collected several and also often received one or two throughout high school from my maternal grandmother. They were small works of art and their simple rhyming passages were of Faith and Grace. Steiner, who had much grief in her life, always believed in kindness, especially during troubled times.
I could address here the terrible time we are having in the world today. I could tell you how frightened I feel at night when my thoughts naturally turn to loved ones during this pandemic. I could address the race issues which I feel passionate about and how I start each day in trepidation, wondering what happened “last night”. It is coming at us fast, isn’t it? But instead, I choose this place to write about grace and two women who wrote the things I need to read right now – one by way of greeting cards and one by way of novels.
On an honored step stool in my grandmother’s house, there was a blue cloth book that she read in her youth and was very important to her. Just one book. It was Blue Ruin by Grace Livingston Hill. I finally read it last summer after reading about 20 other GLH books. I can see why my grandmother liked it – it had many landmarks that she frequented as it was a story set in Massachusetts.
I like Grace Livingston Hill books that highlight real trouble. And I like them to have a heroine that lives through the trouble but gets dropped safely on the other side. While it’s true that most of the “heroine” type books by GLH end in a fairy tale way, I would be foolish to think that those endings are the norm. But what I love about her stories, is that the women who go through some terrible trials, find a well of strength inside them. Helen Steiner Rice had her trials too so both she and GLH knew what they were talking about.
Upon chatting with a friend who set out and succeeded in making her life a Grace Livingston Hill novel (without the fairy tales) – and she really really told me she was going to do this at the outset – I realized yet again, that poems, literature, novels, even simple greeting cards, can be more inspiring than any self-help book that can be found on the shelf at Barnes and Noble. To the point, even writer Joan Didion stated once that her own parents urged her to turn to literature when she had problems, stating that anything she needed to know to help a situation could be found in a fictional book. Here, I interject the opening line of Dickens’ David Copperfield: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show”. Meditating on that one sentence is enlivening.
I’ve been reading the above book of poems by Helen Steiner Rice and also a few more Grace Livingston Hill novels. They are comforting and nourishing in heavy times. My friend is relying on learning to play a Hammond organ, baking, and setting her table each night (GLH novels have wonderful domestic scenes).
I am sorry that the muse is not upon me right now but I thought I would tell you about these two women, who lived lives of grace in very troubled times and then told us how to do it too.
More soon…
8 Comments
Robin M
Trying to subscribe to your lovely blog and the subscribe button doesn’t seem to be working. Requested to follow on Instagram.
A Lovely Inconsequence
Hi Robin, It’s been fixed as of last week. I just checked and it’s working. Please use Google Chrome as your browser as that may work. Thank you.
Ann
Oh, what a perfect, calming post for a troubled week. Yes, the smell of those stores…and splurging on Eaton stationery. I always saved an HSR cards I received…precious. I don’t remember if I read any GHL books, but heading to my library website right now to find some. I remember reading Helen Van Slyke novels…which were all about living in the city and a glamour life…but also touched on racial issues way back when I was in high school in the earl 1970’s. Yes…it is time to read fiction that will inspire us. Thank you , as always, for your beautiful posts!
LA CONTESSA
WE can ALWAYS use more books to READ!
MAY YOU STAY WELL AND SAFE in your ABODE!
I LOVED THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!I STILL GET GOOSE BUMPS DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD PAST THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND I HAVE NO MORE LITTLE ONES!I WONDER WHEN THAT WILL END?!!
XX
Anneli
Thank you 🙏
I haven’t read any books by GLH ( I am in the UK ) but Elizabeth Goudge is a long time favourite , and I was delighted to find that her books are now available on Kindle , and have been re reading them .
Karen Noske
This is beautiful, dearie. And I love that even though you claim the muse is not upon you, you still write with grace and power. The muse might make it easier, but the gift is there, unstintingly given by a good God. Thank you for sharing these beautiful thoughts…I loved reading this and will be sharing it with others who love GLH and knowing that we have an anchor in our souls when we think on heavenly, higher things. Much love, K.
Christie McCann
I read a lot of GHL’ s novels growing up, and one of my favorites is April Gold. May I also recommend Elizabeth Goudge’s books to you, or others who read the blog? She was an English author of historical and contemporary novels, as well as compilations of poetry and prose. All are infused with her strong faith, as well as a deep appreciation and beautiful descriptions of the natural world and our place within it, along with thoughtful characterizations, and a sense of humor, too. A lot of people recommend The Scent of Water for those new to her work. My personal favorite remains The Little White Horse, set in an enchanting village in Cornwall in the 1840s, it has a wonderful fairy tale blend of adventure, mysticism, romance, and humor. Oh, and there’s a wonderful Instagram book club, too!
Take care, Christie
Tracy H
While your lovely blog title is so apt, today I would call it “A True Blessing “.
Just what my weary soul needed to go out into the world today and be productive and hopeful.