Overview of Books

In my first memoir, God Never Hurries, I danced with fear and anger for my mother’s and my safety. It is a story of finding my voice. In my second memoir, Both/and Things—The Power in Reflection, I am evolving in my dance with love, forgiveness, and connection. It is a story of using my found voice.

Both/and Things—The Power in Reflection

Spiritual, no longer religious, is the transforming journey I walk seeking to learn unconditional love and forgiveness. Both/and Things—The Power in Reflection shares my everyday discoveries that accepting everything and everyone encountered in life can eventually lead to a love that is bigger than the universe—a love that connects us to one another, Mother Earth, and the Great Mystery that created it all. 

The morning I heard a soothing, happy, male voice say, “Everything is a both/and thing,” changed my life forever. I am growing to understand how the paradoxical nature of everything can eventually lead to good. I share what needed to die in me to lead me to new life; and what I have learned from the interplay of darkness and light in my life where so much becomes clear. New light is shed on fear and courage, evil, vital decay, recycling pain, curiosity, diversity’s many gifts, the evolution of love, and unconditional love and forgiveness. 

The following highlighted words attempt to capture the essence of Both/and Things:

Empowerment - Fear has brought me closer to the truth showing me how my compliance with patriarchy allowed destructive behaviors in the other and myself. I learned I was the one who needed to change. And I’m still a work in progress.

Acceptance - Somehow the creative force of the Great Mystery exists in the interplay of darkness and light where so much becomes clear. I am learning that accepting the darkness is the first step to creating goodness and strength in us all.

Diversity - When we reflectively interact with nature and each other, we become good medicine for the earth and one another.

Belonging - I understand a new language of belonging is needed to treat all of creation, and each and everyone of us, as holy.

Love - Each day brings ample opportunity to work toward life’s ultimate goal—love of self and all others unconditionally through the power of reflection.

Forgiveness - It’s all about forgiveness. Sheer compassion and forgiveness of myself teaches me how to love and forgive the other unconditionally.

Wisdom– Each of my reflections in Both/and Things begin with a quote from diverse souls who have sought to understand what life is all about. 


I've spent a lifetime seeking the wisdom of others. I have learned how pain is recycled into new life, came to realize the gifts in fear, courage, holy curiosity, and diversity. I conclude life is about the evolution of love—learning to love unconditionally—and it's all about forgiveness.

Following are the quoted authors that begin my reflections in Both/and Things:

Pema Chodron 

“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.”

“Nothing awakens the heart like extreme sadness.”

            

e. e. cummings 

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really

are."

Richard Rohr

“Darkness, mistakes, and trials are the supreme teachers. Success really teaches you nothing; it just feels good."

Jellaludin Rumi 

“Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life’s search for love and wisdom.”

            

Albert Einstein  

        “Never lose a holy curiosity.”

              

Stephen Covey 

“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.”

Teilhard de Chardin 

“Yet it is the law of all progress that is made by passing through some stages of instability and that may take a very long time.”

“The most telling and profound way of describing the evolution of the universe would undoubtedly be to trace the evolution of love.”

“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world [man] we will have discovered fire."

God Never Hurries – A Memoir

God Never Hurries is an invitation to walk with me, and a Shepherd/Husky named Bear, into the natural world where I took heart-wrenching problems surrounding my father’s abuse, mother’s Alzheimer’s disease, and both of their care needs.  I found courage, comfort, wisdom, and a rusty old car buried upside down on the beach that put light on the roots of abuse.  It was an awful and yet graced time when I was challenged to change and came to know love, service and forgiveness in a new way. Trauma becomes transformation, but not before I learn to dance in chains and trust in the slow work of God.

Following are excerpts from God Never Hurries.

I came to know:

It’s a lot easier to stay miserable than to make changes in your life.

Mystery enlightened me: 

Down in the valley it looked as if my glasses were smudged.  But when I took them off I realized it was a soft mist beginning to enshroud me.  The farther down we walked, the heavier and more comforting the veil became.  Then turning a bend in the deepest part of the valley, the sun came alive as it beamed through the trees.  I caught my breath and heard my voice say softly, “Oh my God.”  (She is so beautiful in person.)  And I was infused with courage.  It was as if the sweet, seductive voice of God whispered, “Be not afraid.”

Silence became a both/and thing:

Silence is a both/and thing.  It is golden when I curb my ego and silently accept another’s shortcomings in the name of kindness.  It is a gift when it leads me to reflect on the messages in my life.  But silence also feeds abuse, and as Anne Lamott writes in Bird by Bird, “…we are only as sick as our secrets.”

Simple experiences shed light on truth:

Light snow was falling on an early January morning when I drove my car to a neighborhood service station and left it there for an oil change.  The snow stopped as I started to walk home.  Several hours later when I went back to pick up my car, I was surprised to see my footprints still alone in the fresh snow.  No one else had walked my path.

My search for truth in God Never Hurries will take you on numinous bike rides where my spirit soars, frogs talk, and my anger levels hills.  Retreat with me into the desert where chaos and myth speak to me.  Voyage into wilderness where my canoe paddle leaves imposed guilt.  Fly across an ocean to where I hear the God within us singing.  And spend a weekend in downtown Detroit where I get a grip on my complicity in trouble.  Discover what I learned from encountering my heart’s desire, and what led me to leave the church of my birth at age 60 where I first learned to talk to God.

* * *

Philip Chard, award-winning newspaper columnist and author of The Healing Earth and Nature's Way writes, "In God Never Hurries, Marcia invites us to search for our personal truths through the lens of her own journey, one full of small but profound revelations communicated through everyday experiences and the timeless wisdom of the natural world.  As she illustrates in an engaging and poignant way, the quest for answers to life’s big questions may lead us to simpler, quieter moments where we discover once again that life is school and each day, indeed each moment, has its own lesson plan.”

Ordering information: To purchase your copy of Both/and Things – The Power in Reflection for $13.00, God Never Hurries for $15.00, or both titles together for $25.00, use the menu to select the title (click on the  symbol to view choices); enter the quantity; and click on the PayPal Add to Cart link below. You will be connected to PayPal to complete your purchase, with or without a PayPal account. Shipping is free.

Both/and Things $13.00 USD God Never Hurries $15.00 USD Both books together $25.00 USD

Quantity

Both/and Things – The Power in Reflection is also available from Amazon print on demand.