The Beautiful Ache: Finding the God Who Satisfies When Life Does Not (Paperback)

by Leigh McLeroy (Author)
Key Phrases: beautiful ache, bright red bird, horse whisperer, Beautiful Joe, Son of God, Lord God (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Even as believers take joy in this world, it is clear that life on earth is not perfect. Many struggle with unrequited love, infertility, the pain of separation, failure, uncertainty, and unfulfilled plans. But somewhere between seeing life as all rosy and seeing it as a vale of tears, Leigh McLeroy takes readers on a journey through the beauty and joy in this sometimes painful world. With exquisite writing and soul-deep reflections, Leigh weaves her own personal stories with biblical narratives to engage readers in the compelling mystery of living in between this world and God's kingdom. In The Beautiful Ache, she calls readers to embrace the gap between life hoped for and life as it is-to press on for that which fully satisfies.

From the Inside Flap
EXCERPT FROM CATALOG It's the pang that strikes when loss is sudden, or suddenly realized. It's the stealth tears that fall when something stunningly grand (or nakedly simple) sets holiness on clear display. It arrives with crickets chirping on a June night, or a bright pink sunset slung low and wide across the sky, or the sound of a child's sleepy whisper. It lingers in memory-infused music and nibbles the edges of silent hope. It's evoked by a longed-for touch, or a word well-spoken, delivered just in time. It invades carpool lines and conference rooms with equal deftness. It is no respecter of place or time. It's the beautiful ache. It says there's more. More than you've seen and much more than you've longed for. Beyond what you know, and far, far past your strongest yearning. As C. S. Lewis said, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience can satisfy, the most logical explanation is that I was made for another world." The beautiful ache is that fleeting pang that reminds us of home. Only, not the home we've always known-the home we've never seen. It pierces and pries open the heart, but doesn't near satisfy it. It whets the appetite, but doesn't begin to fill it. It unmasks beauty, but not completely. It reeks of truth, but stops just short of telling all. Hardly a day goes by that I don't feel it. The trick is learning to allow the ache to take me where it wants to go, to tutor and tantalize my mostly-numb senses with its laser-sharp aim. The challenge is not to kill it off before it fully arrives . . . or dismiss it before it is ready to go. I don't have to ask if you know what I'm talking about. You do. You've felt the ache too.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Revell; annotated edition edition (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800731417
• ISBN-13: 978-0800731410
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #253,910 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book finds beauty in unrealized desire as it points towards the eternal, May 14, 2007

By	Michael Dalton (Eureka, CA United States) - See all my reviews

What is the beautiful ache? In her book, Leigh McLeroy defines it as "that fleeting pang that reminds us of home. Not the home we've always known--the home we've never seen. The ache pierces and pries open the heart but doesn't nearly satisfy it. It whets the appetite but doesn't begin to fill it."

She elaborates on common desires and their corresponding hardships by weaving together personal stories and Biblical narratives. Each chapter highlights a specific area. The need for belonging, the difficulty of trusting, the hardship of labor, and the pain of grief are just a few of the topics covered.

These insightful and devotion-like thoughts challenge, find humor and move to tears. Her mature and balanced perspective is especially evident in "The Ache for Healing." She uses a John Piper quote to make her point: "It is fitting that a child ask his father for relief in trouble. And it is fitting that a loving father give His child only what is best. And that he always does: sometimes healing now, sometimes not. But always, always, what is best for us."

Though this is not a book directed towards single people, I appreciated her perspective, as a single person, in the area of relationships. It's heartbreaking to see, from a woman's point of view, the unfulfilled desire for lifelong companionship. In the "Ache of Expecting" she reflects on the advice given by a friend. "It is no small gift to find another who is like you and whose presence is so comforting and right that even the most ordinary moments are enriched by it. Better still is when that one whose presence is life-giving to you comes and means to stay. Emmanuel. God like us. God with us. Forever."

McLeroy recognizes that longing can enrich our lives. "This is the now and the not yet. Because here we taste only a little of the treasure that is ours. Because it's the very longing that makes the eventual receiving truly sweet." Though waiting can be hard, this book finds beauty in it as it points to better things, those that are eternal.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beautiful Ache, March 27, 2007

By	pleased purchaser "kls" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

I finished reading this book hopeful about my own story, not because of anything in myself, but because of "the ultimate goodness of the Storyteller". I've already passed along copies to family and friends for their encouragement. I look forward to reading it again!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Godsend, March 22, 2007

By	Sondra Fowler (Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book struck so many chords and answered so many questions in my life: Why aren't my heart's desires God's desires for me? How can we listen for God's voice and hear it in everyday, ordinary non-coincidences? How can I relate my faith to others in a more meaningful way? Leigh answers all these questions and more. Most of all, she is not afraid to let her personal experiences speak loudly of her faith, even if they represent the disappointments/embarrassments/failures most of us have trouble talking about, much less writing about. Buy this book for yourself and for your friends. They will thank you.