"Whether Texas State University lecturer and lay Episcopal chaplain
Susan Hanson is hiking with her students or grubbing alone in the
alkaline soil of her small garden, she sees glimpses of God
everywhere. . . . In careful prose that sings on the pages, Hanson
eschews pat answers while inviting the reader to explore deeper
spiritual truths."--Christianity Today "From the marmot in Colorado
to the javelina of South Texas, from the False Dayflower in her
yard to the palmettos in the Ottine swamp, from the Cooper's hawk
to the cormorant--Hanson calmly and gracefully informs us. And she
relates all of this to the humans who live with these and other
things, things natural, every day, and wondrous."--Southwestern
American Literature "Susan Hanson offers snapshots of all the
natural glory that is Texas. Her kaleidoscope of words pixel
together scenes of God in nature--be it in the small ramblings of a
rolly polly, the flight of a butterfly or cardinal, maggots
feasting on a roadkill possum or, especially, in the time-sacred
act of gardening. . . . This book offers the best of a Walt Whitman
flair for poetic natural observation translated into prose. . .
.But, most importantly, this collection of "moments in time" offers
a new set of new eyes with which to perceive Texas' vast--and
minute--beauty.--Suzanne L. Moore, Times Record News "Susan Hanson
finds comfort, meaning, and joy in the natural world--in the
turning of the seasons, the growth of a seed, the flight of an owl.
. . .Dip into it when you need to be heartened, grounded, and
centered."--Lorraine Anderson It is through brief moments in our
lives that the spiritual most often communicates itself. Fleeting
as they are, these small encounters with the "familiar wild"
instruct us in dealing with change and loss. They are the icons
that point not so much to answers, but to a way of living in the
tension between life and death. Each of these essays represents one
moment. Most of them occur very close to home. There is nothing
exotic about any of the landscapes Susan Hanson depicts--the oak
mottes and scrub of the South Texas Plains, the rocks and rivers of
Central Texas, the soil in her own backyard--yet these are the
sorts of landscapes that teach and nurture all of us who care to
see them. This way of seeing the world--as an undivided whole of
the physical and the spiritual--is nutritive, healthful. The vision
is partial, but all vision is partial, and it is in the pieces, the
glimpses, the tastes, that we acquire a sense of the whole. Divided
into three sections, the book addresses the questions of how we
deal with change and loss in our lives. In "Innocence," the essays
are marked by a spirit of curiosity, wonder, and adventure. The
middle section reflects a growing awareness of loss, both personal
and in the natural world. In "Grace," the final essays point toward
the possibility of reconciliation with loss--a reconciliation
mediated through nature. Written as reflections, rather than
full-blown arguments, Icons of Loss and Grace offers no final
resolution to the questions it presents. Yet in these essays we may
recognize that delight and sorrow are soul mates, that loss and
redemption are a part of the same sacred ground, and that pain can
evolve into grace.
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