Book Review: Help, Thanks, Wow

My first introduction to the work of Anne Lamott occurred at a convention of voice teachers.  The speaker quoted from Lamott's book Bird by Bird:  Some Instructions on Writing and Life, and I knew I had to read more.  I was hooked.

The thing I love most about Anne Lamott is that she is a real person, and her writing reflects that.  She understands struggle.  She understands frustration.  She understands knowing what you should do, but very much wanting to do something else.  And, she is hilarious.

In Help, Thanks, Wow:  The Three Essential Prayers, Lamott gets down to the basics.  She peels away the layers of what we think prayer should be or when we think we should pray and tells it like it is.

Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up. The opposite may be true: We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape.
Lamott, Anne (2012-11-13). Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers (pp. 5-6). Riverhead Hardcover. Kindle Edition. 

I've probably heard hundreds of sermons on prayer, but Lamott speaks to my heart in a way that no one else has.

In prayer, I see the suffering bathed in light. In God, there is no darkness. I see God’s light permeate them, soak into them, guide their feet. I want to tell God what to do: “Look, Pal, this is a catastrophe. You have got to shape up.” But it wouldn’t work. So I pray for people who are hurting, that they be filled with air and light. Air and light heal; they somehow get into those dark, musty places, like spiritual antibiotics.
Lamott, Anne (2012-11-13). Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers (p. 16). Riverhead Hardcover. Kindle Edition. 

Prayer isn't really about the words we say.  It's about what we feel, what we need, and what we need to share with someone or something beyond ourselves.   That is why prayer can really be reduced to three words:  help, thanks, and wow.  Really.  That is every prayer you've ever said.

I worry that some of my friends may miss her wonderful message because they are distracted by her politics, her past, or the four letter words sprinkled through the text.  They may choose to dismiss her words because she sometimes refers to God as female.  Look past it.  She is a beautiful person whose ideas and perspectives on prayer will change you, the way you think about prayer, and the way you pray.