Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy

Lamott (Help; Thanks; Wow) weaves a fascinating personal journey of mercy, challenging readers to allow mercy to impact their personal lives. In the first chapter, she states, "Hallelujah that in spite of it all, there is love, there is singing, nature, laughing, mercy." Later, Lamott shares, "Pope Francis says the name of God is mercy. Our name was mercy too, until we put it away to become more productive, more admired and less vulnerable." She continues to challenge readers to rediscover and give ourselves mercy, and to extend that mercy to others in simple but profound ways. By doing so, "Moments of compassion, giving, grief, and wonder shift our behavior, get inside us and change realms we might not have agreed to have changed." In our current climate of power struggles and ethnic, religious, economic, and political turmoil, Lamott sounds a clear melody of grace, mercy, peace, and forgiveness.