April 30, 2007
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Pray Without Ceasing
I read the final installment of a Wendell Berry short story to my husband last night. The story, Pray Without Ceasing, is a story of friendship, violence, sorrow, mercy and forgiveness. It is a coming of age story, when a defining moment transforms Mat Feltner from a boy to a man. As we approached the last three pages I started crying, tears trickling down into my ears, in anticipation of what was ahead. My tears didn’t quite make sense with the text, but my husband is a patient man and he held his peace.
What I love about Wendell Berry’s stories is the presence of strong men, decent men who lead those around them with confidence, dignity and humility. Tol Proudfoot, Ben Feltner, Jack Beechum — these are men I’d love to have lived in my neighborhood. These are men that built strong friendships, men who honored commitments.
From the time Jack was eight years old, Ben had simply been his friend– had encouraged, instructed, corrected, helped, and stood by him; had placed a kindly, humorous, forbearing expectation upon him that he could not shed or shirk and had at last lived up to.Yesterday in church we prayed for a local family who suddenly lost their 40-something husband/father. Several prayed for the high-school aged son, that God would provide men to counsel and befriend this young man in the gaping absence of his father.
Pray Without Ceasing is a fictional picture of the answer to those very real prayers. It describes one older man walking next to a young man whose life has just come undone.
Jack watched Mat as he would have watched a newborn colt weak on its legs that he had helped to stand, that might continue to stand or might not. All afternoon Jack did not sit down because Mat did not. Sometimes there were things to do, and they were busy… But, busy or not, Mat was almost constantly moving, as if seeking his place in a world newly made that day, a world still shaking and doubtful underfoot. And Jack both moved with him and stayed apart from him, watching.
Comments (5)
I’m reading this book, too – and just finished that story Saturday night. I cried, too – it was beautifully told.
The beauty of Berry’s writing makes me cry, let alone the sadness of the story line. I just got a new book of his poetry…can’t wait to dig in soon.
Happy Monday,
Diane
I like this: “What I love about Wendell Berry’s stories is the presence of strong men, decent men who lead those around them with confidence, dignity and humility.”
I wonder how many men read Berry? More need to, don’t you think?
wow! Thank you for again expanding my horizions.
Those men are so very important!
Our family was blessed with such men after my dad became ill with Alzheimers. My brother was about 11 when dad was diagnosed. Mom had all she could handle with the new situation. I can’t even imagine her despair. Coaches filled some of the void for sports, but that was not all to a young teen. Granddad in North Carolina and uncles scattered over the country loved Tom as well, but were not able to be a continuing influence. Ironically, providentially…a former employee of my dad’s, by then a father of a friend of Tom’s, took him under his wing. When they hunted, Tom went along. When there was fun to be had, Tom was with them. This second family was God’s blessing for a boy that never knew his dad as a man.
As kid myself, I wasn’t aware of all of this, but as a mom of two boys I know how important these relationships are…But even more mysterious is the effect of a dad on teenage girls…I had no ‘replacement’ father. Seeing my husband with the glirs in our family shows me how much I missed.
God’s a Father, Kind and true, One who loves and cares for you!