The God Box by Mary Lou Quinlan

Overview from Goodreads:

When Mary Lou Quinlan’s beloved mother, Mary Finlayson, dies, her family is bereft—until Mary Lou searches for her mother’s “God Box,” her private cache of notes to God on behalf of family, friends and strangers. To Mary Lou’s amazement, she finds not one but ten boxes stuffed with hundreds of tiny petitions that spanned the last twenty years of her mother’s life.

Note by note, Mary Lou unearths a treasure of her mother’s wishes and worries and insight. Mary asked God for everything from the right flooring for her daughter’s home to a cure for her own blood cancer. Her requests, penned on scraps of paper, were presented without expectation—the ultimate expression of letting go

My Thoughts:

This is a nice little book of 122 pages, with a big message.  The author’s Mom would put notes in a box as a request to God to take care of her own or someone else’s troubles – an illness, a lost job, maybe a job interview or a sick loved one.  The rule was that once in the box, the issue had to be “let go” and turned over to God.  Still want to worry about it?   Think you can handle this better than God?  Out comes the note (or that was the threat).

I like the book for its strong message about having faith in a higher power.  That there are situations in life we can’t control, so we should just let it go and believe that that God will take care of things.  I’m a bit of a control freak.  I often tell people that while I can turn things over to God, I will often say – now that I’ve given it to you, let me tell you how I would like you to handle it!

At the end, the author suggests that readers consider starting their own God box.   Simple – a jar or shoe box.  Fancy – a hand carved wood or fancy inlay box.  High tech – she has a website for posting anonymous thoughts.  I know I have issues that would go in a God box – do you?

Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for allowing me to read this book in exchange for  my unbiased review.

The books publications date is April 17, 2012.

My rating: ****