Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey

Review "[Shaw] describing her own experiences and thoughts on a variety of subjects with similes and metaphors had me scrambling for my highlighter! She writes about things we all think about. That is what had me sometimes chuckling and sometimes nodding in agreement over subjects such as getting a massage, parenting our children, waiting for a diagnosis, and moving to smaller quarters. This volume is all about making transitions in life as we ascend to the next life. That is the journey that Luci Shaw so lovingly shares with her readers." -- Melanie Sheets, St. Anthony Messenger, August 2014"Using the metaphor of a mountain climber leaving behind the trappings of human life and eventually her mortal coil, Shaw here finds profound beauty in her ascent toward a heavenly home." -- Emily Whitten, World Magazine, February 8, 2014"[Adventure of Ascent] is interesting as the testament of a sincere but far from naïve Christian. This should appeal to church reading groups and older readers." -- Library Journal, February 15, 2014"Using engaging, insightful, lyrical language, poet and octogenarian Shaw offers reflections on her life in a neatly gathered, extended metaphor about making a journey to the summit of the mountain of life. . . . Shaw doesn't pretend to have all the answers?questions about God and the search for meaning in life still persist?but she ponders them with a grace and faith that make the reader glad to be along for a portion of the journey." -- Publishers Weekly, December 9, 2013"Shaw's humor, insight, and the honest wrestling with faith on her pilgrimage make this an enjoyable guide to this land that borders on the undiscovered country, to the journey that no one survives." -- Jeff Sajdak, Calvin Theological Journal, April 2015 In this book, writer-poet Luci Shaw has given us a lifetime of exquisite reflections on nature, love, death, suffering, loss, faith, doubt, creativity, curiosity, lifelong learning?all of it drawn from the breadth of her own experience, harvested in penetrating and lyrical insights. Still active in her eighties, Luci now turns her attention to the season of edging toward the borders. Her spirit of adventure, her brave transparency, and her openness to all that life offers (as well as inflicts) makes her a captivating and hope-inspiring mentor. For most of us, growing older is a reality we put off as long as possible?until we realize with a shock that it is happening to us. We immediately look around to see how others on the path just ahead of us are dealing with it. So here is the intrepid Luci Shaw, taking readers on a virtual hike with her, with steps more deliberate and slow but also with surprising vistas that fill us with gratitude. In this book Luci serves as a fearless and eloquent scout. As she traverses new territory, she records her experiences lovingly, honestly, sorrowfully, joyfully?here's what it's like, and here's what to be ready for. These field notes will inform your own journey, no matter what your age. Review "I love this sage book." -- Lauren Winner, author of Still About the Author Luci Shaw is an acclaimed poet, lecturer and Writer in Residence at Regent College, Vancouver. In 2013 she received the tenth annual Denise Levertov Award for Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University and Image. Her papers are collected in the Luci Shaw Collection in Wheaton College's Buswell Library. Her most recent books include Breath for the Bones, Harvesting Fog and Scape. She lives in Bellingham, Washington.