What Was Lost: Seeking Refuge in the Psalms

What Was Lost, by Maureen O’Brien is a book to be savored and cherished. It is what I would call a bedside table book; one that can be opened at random and reliably supply what is needed.
Although it is about the Psalms, which are attached to organized religion, it is in no way a religious book. Instead, it is about an emotional connection to these ageless, age-old poems. It is an invitation to enjoy them.
The chapters are contemporaneously intimate, personal and universal. I gave the book to a sixteen-year old student, a hardnosed nonbeliever. She remarked, “It’s so relatable!” She’s right. Anyone can identify with the feelings Ms. O’Brien describes in her journey through the Psalter; desperation, grief, fury, fear, skepticism, longing, wonder, love, hope, doubt, joy. The writing is vivid, evocative and exquisitely sincere.
I am a secular agnostic, like my student, wandering around cluelessly in an endeavor to find my spiritual home. It is in these pages that my faith is lurking, waiting to jump out and surprise me.
Like the Psalms, What Was Lost is a lyrical celebration with an expressly human touch. It is a delightful read. I look forward to visiting these meditations about life, love, loss, faith, and the search for our place in the world for years to come.