Gifts of Passage: What the Dying Tell Us with the Gifts They Leave Behind - eBook

Amy Hollingsworth is the author of the best-selling The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers and Gifts of Passage. Before writing books, Amy wrote for various magazines and was a television writer for eight years for CBN. In 2010, she was named one of USA Today’s Top 100 People for her influence on pop culture and was featured in the documentary by MTV’s Benjamin Wagner titled Mister Rogers & Me. Her television appearances include WGN’s Morning News, PBS’s A Word on Words, and Fox’s Morning News. A former psychology professor, Amy lives in Virginia with her husband and children.  

 

Few events in life leave us more vulnerable and potentially open to God's gifts than the death of a loved one. The death of Hollingsworth's father while she was writing her first book, The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers, gave her the opportunity and desire to discover what legacies the dying leave behind. While searching for the meaning of her father's final moments, Hollingsworth talked to or read about others who had experienced gifts in the midst of loss, and movingly recounts their stories. While some of the anecdotes are familiar, such as C.S. Lewis's loss of his wife, Joy, many of the most touching are of ordinary people whose gifts are occasionally physical—e.g., a locket that had not yet been given—but more often are ones of relationship. Hollingsworth concludes with the powerful story of her father's death and her discovery that his last moments offered her much needed healing of their difficult relationship. Those who question whether God orchestrates all that happens in our lives will struggle with that implied theology here, but those who find comfort in that perspective will experience Hollingsworth as a warm and gracious companion for the grieving process. (Apr. 29) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.