Council for Health and Human Service Ministries

Word and Deed: Thoughts on Faith-Based Leadership

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Shirley Nelson In the August 2006 Word and Deed, titled Bridging Troubled Waters," I wrote about Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott. Traveling Mercies is Lamott's first book about living a life of faith; her second is Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. Like Traveling Mercies, Plan B is witty, humorous, and chock full of wisdom.

In Plan B, Lamott celebrates the challenges in her life that have shaped her into the woman she is today. Her journey has included a bout with drug and alcohol addiction, the focus of several essays in Traveling Mercies. Now, however, her difficult early years seem to be merely a shadow in a life fully lived. Reflecting on her past, she compares her experiences with the young heroine of the movie (and novel) Whale Rider. The girl demonstrated amazing strength and determination by holding on to a whale's barnacles and riding it, despite the fact that only men and boys had previously conquered that feat.

Barnacles, apparently, tend to live on the top of the animal's head, around the blowhole and also on the anterior part of the back. Barnacles are often described as parasites that neither harm nor benefit their host. Although the thought of a child clinging to parasites is not lovely, without the whale's barnacles, the young girl might well have drowned.

Lamott writes:

What got her on the whale was her fierce understanding of her own truth, and that allowed her to tune into the whale's spirit, as the whale was tuned into hers. But she couldn't have held on without the barnacles on the whale's back--the barnacles to which I have clung when I was trying something bold and outrageous and impossible, like being a writer, or helping my parents die with dignity, or learning to love my increasingly bodily body. My inner sense of disfigurement, the unfairness of the world, all the stumbling blocks, the breakups, the bad news, and the things I was made to endure that I hated, these were what grew the barnacles. (202)

The demons that plagued Lamott in youth are gone and, in Plan B, we find a compassionate woman who is able to embrace life more fully. She is now living comfortably in her skin, regarding aging as a gift in spite of the challenges presented by her body's new aches and pains. She writes "it's not that I think less of myself, but that I think of myself less often (176)". And perhaps predictably, she has also found romantic love: "I learned to be the person I wished I'd meet, at which point I found a kind, artistic, handsome man." (175)

Throughout Plan B, you will find testimonies to Lamott's newfound joy, wisdom and peace of mind. You may also see a bit of yourself in her reflections: I certainly did.

Lamott's witty and earthy style may not be your prescription for a better life, but perhaps you know someone with a few bumps and bruises who needs gentle persuasion to move on to higher ground. If so, perhaps Plan B can be a source of enlightenment and perspective.

As always, I wish you peace, love, and joy along the journey--in spite of the barnacles you encounter.

Shirley Nelson

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