Log #2

Book: The Shack

Author: William P. Young

Page: p71~133

     After received a suspicious note which apparently sent from God, Mack ultimately resolved on heading for the place where his little daughter was murdered few years ago. However, instead of meeting any humans or godlike beings in the shack, he completely went to pieces as the sad memories flooded back. Just as he thought he had been toyed by God and was ready to leave with a heavier heart, everything around him began to change in an irrational way—The path in front of him rapidly lost its veneer of snow and ice, and the summer wildflowers began to color the borders of the trail. Three weeks of spring unfurled before him in thirty seconds. And, the dilapidated shack had been replaced by a sturdy and beautifully constructed log cabin. 

     Even more incredibly, three people showed up and welcomed Mack — Elousia, a large African-American woman who claimed herself as the God, Sarayu, an Asian Lady shimmering in the light who actually was the Holy Spirit, and Jesus, a man appeared Middle Eastern and was dressed like a laborer. Then, Mack, with a heart full of confusion and unanswered questions, opened one dialogs after another with these three mysterious beings in the shack. Every dialogs seemed to lead Mack to rethink about the relationships between human and God,  and gradually softened the bondage of The Great Sadness, that is, the deepest trauma existed in Mack’s mind.

Among the dialogs between Mack, Elousia, and Sarayu, there are a few that impressed me the most, which made me reflect on the relations between trauma, love, and trust.

Elousia: “Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around. You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around.”

“Living unloved is like clipping a bird’s wings and removing its ability to fly. Not something I want for you.”

“Mack, pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly.
And if it’s left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place.”

Sarayu: ”Machenzie, you cannot produce trust, just as you cannot ‘do’ humility. It either is or is not. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you can not trust me.”

Picture from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shack#/media/File:Shackover.jpg