Kara Tippetts opens her heart and her mind honestly and truthfully to bring us in to her life, beginning with childhood up through her continued struggle with cancer. Her confessions and stories are difficult to read at times, but consistently coupled with the strength she receives from her spirituality. Her story is a true testament to the power of believing in a higher being and releasing all seemingly impossible things to that being. She uses the names God, Him, Holy Spirit, and Jesus. She often quotes the Bible. This may seem religious or dogmatic, but the message comes through so clearly, and I think anyone who lives their life connected to a higher being can benefit from her story.
She uses the word “hard” quite often. But the more she uses it, the softer the word gets. She gains a complete acceptance of her “hard” because of her ability to release it to God. But that’s not even the end of it. She also sees that “hard is beautiful”. Even in the darkest, most painful of times, she sees the beauty in her “hard”. The last line of a letter written by her husband sums it up. “I am a witness that it is hard, but it is beautiful.” P. 174
A paragraph toward the end of the book (p. 148) really struck me. It spoke directly to me as a mother. It makes me think of yoga and how very important it is to me. I take yoga class three times a week, but I wish I were better at living yoga every day. I stay in mommy mode most of the time, getting frustrated with my daughter when she misbehaves, or being so tired that I can’t even think straight. Kara is telling me “to slow down, to rest, to stop…to tune in.” Really very simple.
The Hardest Peace is perfectly titled. It is a straight forward account of the way we can all feel peace, no matter what. Kara admits that it is hard to do, but once you open yourself to the answer, it actually gets pretty easy. As “easy” as a devastation like cancer can be. As she quotes A.A. Milne in her acknowledgements (p. 183), I think she says it best.
“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
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