So Delightful
Being Ethel: In A World That Loves Lucy by Michele Olson is an absolutely charming Christian novel that I adored. It is the first book in the Mackinac Island series and I cannot wait to read the rest.
As the series title suggests, the book is set on Mackinac Island in 1979. The Grand Hotel takes centre stage as a new movie, Somewhere In Time is being filmed. This, as it happens, is one of my all-time favourite movies. I, therefore, found the location easy to picture.
The leading lady has experienced a huge loss. Her emotions are conflicting as she experiences, guilt, anger and grief. Her walk with God has been damaged. “Being mad at myself, and God.” She feels that her father, an evangelist, escaped justice by dying (before the book opened.) “It’s quite a trip to see a person ooze love and acceptance in the pulpit yet act the way he did at our house.” Her father did not walk the walk in private, only when he was in the spotlight.
There is anger at God too, for allowing the deaths of her mother and twin sister (before the book opened.) The leading lady views God as a God of wrath. An encounter with a godly nun, opens her eyes. “I don’t want to fall into a religion trap, I just want to know Him [Jesus], His Father and the Holy Spirit.” It is all about relationship and not religion. After years of living in the shadows, “my self-worth comes from who I am to the Lord.”
We each have to learn to make our faith personal. “What your dad did or didn’t do isn’t your faith walk.” My faith is my responsibility. As we grow in faith, we draw nearer to God. “She’s not afraid to question God on anything or be honest with Him.” Now she knows “people would fail me, Jesus would not.”
Prayer is important. “I pray about everything… I don’t believe in coincidence.” Prayer draws us closer to God.
We learn about forgiveness. We do not deserve it. We cannot earn it. Forgiveness is a gift from God. We must forgive because we have been forgiven.
I absolutely loved Being Ethel: In A World That Loves Lucy. It was such a delightful read and had godly lessons for us all.
JULIA WILSON
