A Boy from Lawrence: The Collected Writings of Eugene F. Connolly.

A Boy From Lawrence: The Collected Writings of Eugene F. Connolly

Sally A. Connolly, editor

TypeStyles Desktop Publishing Services

c/o Edwards Brothers Inc.

PO Box 1007, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1007

www.freewebs.com/aboyfromlawrence [phone]

0977265315 $19.95 205 pages

"A Boy From Lawrence" is a labor of love, containing the collected personal writings of former Professor Eugene Connolly, edited by his wife, Sally Connolly. "A Boy From Lawrence" is more than a collection of inspirational writings, poems , and quotations, it is the story of a soul's journey to God, in very humble language. The gentle narrative illumines the life and ways of a most remarkable man, of tangible goodness. Acceptance of loss, with a surety of grace, the theme of many pages is perhaps the ever present goodness of God. One of the most moving chapters is part of a section called "Let Evening Come," named after a poem by Jane Kenyon, who also died of cancer, like Eugene Connolly. Because it speaks to the heart, and because it was evidently important to Connolly, here is a part of it:

   Let the light of late afternoon
   shine though chinks in the barn, moving
   up the bales as the sun moves down.

   Let the cricket take up chafing
   as a woman takes up her needles
   and her yarn. Let evening come.

   Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
   in long grass. Let the stars appear
   and the moon disclose her silver horn.

   Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
   Let the wind die down. Let the shed
   go black inside. Let evening come.

   To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
   in the oats, to aid in the lung,
   let evening come.

   Let it come, as it will, and don't
   be afraid. God does not leave us
   comfortless, so let evening come. (page 113)

"A Boy From Lawrence" is filled with such treasures. It is a very uplifting meditation book, recommended for those in need of comfort, illumination, redirection, grace, or prayer.