Book Review: The Beautiful Ache

At times we ache for something we once had. And for something yet to come.

Leigh McLeroy turns those aches into spiritual connections in The Beautiful Ache: Finding the God Who Satisfies When Life Does Not. She gently weaves in and out between where you’ve been and where you’re going, until you find your resting place in God. She indiscreetly asks you to be satisfied where you are, even if it’s not where you want to be. She writes sweetly, yet probes deeply enough beneath your surface that you relate to her experiences.

Each chapter can stand alone in describing a different “ache,” such as the Ache to Celebrate, to Belong, to Hear God, to Worship. By the end of the book, you’ve been on a lovely tour of life.

Excerpts:

* from “Beautiful Joe: The Ache of Persevering”
C.S. Lewis called pain “God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world,” but most of us think our hearing is just fine, thanks. We’d rather not experience God “up close” if that kind of proximity involves pain. But the thing is—we don’t get to choose. He’s not just the God of the “good life,” he’s the God of all life.

* from “Faith and Falling: The Ache of Trusting”
If God has placed you in a moment that requires trust—or the long sustaining of it—he has brought you to a place of great intimacy and possibility. Trust is for lovers, not strangers. So instead of asking, “Do I dare?” why not ask instead, “Am I loved?” If the answer is yes, then trust is the only reasonable response.

* from “A Table in the Wilderness: The Ache to Feast with God”
But I didn’t want the things I wanted as much as I wanted for my wants to be supplied by my great and good God—and to be glad in him and also in them. I wanted to have my cake and eat it too. I still do.

* from “Epilogue”
Occasionally we catch a vision of truth and beauty that takes our breath away and reminds us of what we miss. We are richer if we do not look away.

Flippo Lippi’s Predella of the Barbadori Altarpiece