by Billy Sprague
Harvest House Publishers, 2001
Review by Bruce L. Thiessen, Ph.D.
Though it left many questions unanswered, Letter to a Grieving Heart
served as a source of inspiration in my efforts to compose One September
Mournin'/One December Night, a new musical designed to offer comfort to
grieving victims of the sorrowful and horrific events of September 11th via
the message of the Christmas story. It allowed me to write the script
and the corresponding songs from a place in my heart that is warm and
peaceful.
Tears of grief are often like seeds that lie dormant on the surface of a
cold, hard, untilled ground. The right gardener can gently soften,
nurture and warm the ground upon which those tears fall. Billy
Sprague is the right gardener and Letter to a Grieving Heart is the right
garden for healing and personal growth to take place in the midst of
overwhelming grief. By combining pastoral tidings of comfort and hope
with original poetry and the breathtaking photography of John MacMurray,
Sprague holistically engages the senses of the reader. Through his
consummate skill in speaking from the heart and his selfless willingness to
share his own personal pain, Sprague gracefully moves the grief-stricken
reader from a place of melancholy resignation to a place of buoyant
resilience. Along with the solace provided by a generous offering of
idyllic pictures and poignant poetry, the personal touch and heartfelt
reflection freely offered by Sprague go along way toward galvanizing the
broken spirit with a renewed sense of hope and intrepid courage.
Creativity and compassion combine in this simple book to caress the heart
afflicted by a sorrowful tide of crushing emotions.
This is not an exhaustive manual of psychological techniques for coping
with grief, based on painstaking research and/or a comprehensive theory of
the grieving process. For this, the reader would be better served
perusing the pages of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's On Death & Dying;
On Children & Death, or Death: The Final Stage of Growth.
Compared with these comprehensive resources, Sprague's book leaves many
stones unturned. For example, Sprague's book does not tell us how our
awareness of the inevitability of death influences every decision we make
or refuse to make throughout the course of our lives. That question
has been answered definitively by Ernest Becker in his masterpiece, The
Denial of Death. Nor does Sprague's book tell us "How to Go On
Living When Someone You Love Dies," at least not as well as the book by
that title authored by Therese A. Rando, Ph.D.
No, if you are looking for answers to all of the daunting questions that
death ushers in, don't look here. In fact, when it comes to the
subject of death, there will always remain more plaguing questions than
satisfactory answers. Due to the inscrutable mystery and profound
sense of personal loss surrounding death and grief, apart from the Psalms
itself, the perfect book for the grieving heart does not exist. Yes,
there are many literary resources that come close, and go further in
addressing many of the more complicated aspects of the grieving process.
Still, many questions concerning this subject matter shall remain
unanswered, like why God allows it to happen in such cruel and colossal
ways as those unveiled in the early morning of September 11th.
. . . And the world stood still
As the sky fell down
On broken glass
From wounded windows
And plane-shaped bombs
Gave no warning,
but we shall live as one
On this September Mournin'. . .
One September Mournin' by B.L.Thiessen, (c)2001
A book is just a book and can never be traded in
for the healing power of friendship, the support of a close-knit body of
believers, unceasing prayer, or professional psychological treatment.
While there are many things that this book cannot accomplish, its
simplicity, poignancy, and expression of genuine compassion have the
potential to take the reader to new heights. Although, by itself,
Letter to a Grieving Heart is not a definitive guide to recovery, when
amplified by the caring, supportive words of a friend, family member or
spouse, by a song sung by one who has shared in the loss of the mourner, or
by the gentle whisper of the divine Comforter, it has the potential to
speak volumes. Thankfully, with all its limitations, Letter to a
Grieving Heart has the potential of being a powerful balm for the
grieving individual.