A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

This was one of those books that is just a classic.  It's a classic because it's well written.  It's a classic because it's historically accurate, preserving a time and culture and people.  It's a classic because it makes you think about some of the harder questions in life.  It's a classic because of the flawed and realistic characters and their relationships with each other.

I know it changed me and opened my eyes from reading it.  I know that because I find myself thinking about it still.

When I was reading it, I liked it and I thought it was good.  But when I finished it and have thought back on it since, it felt like it was an important book for me to read.  It was important for me to see how many opportunities I have been given in my life and how blessed my life is.  It was important for me to see that it is not what we are given, but what we do with what we are given.  It was important for me to see how much I get caught up in all the "stuff" in my life, even when I try so hard not to.  It was important for me to see that even deeply flawed people can be a huge influence for good in others' lives.  It was important to remind me to look for that good in everyone I see.

The content is difficult.  But at the same time, it's beautiful to see what a young girl can accomplish and become with so many hardships in her way.  I love the analogy of the trees as well:

"Don't say that. It's not better to die. Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there from the grating. It gets no sun, and water only when it rains. It's growing out of sour earth. And it's strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong." 


This was probably one of my favorite quotes of the whole book:

"Dear God, let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be happy; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well-dressed. Let me be sincere- be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost." 


How much do we get caught up in wanting everything in our lives to be perfect?  Why are we unhappy because we don't have enough money? The car we want? The home we want? The career we want? The life we want? The family we want?


Why can't we take the good and the bad and just live the life God gave us and be happy that we still have our freedom and the ability to choose what we want to do.  Why don't we just LIVE?