THINGS WE’VE
HANDED
DOWN
Chris Maxwell offers a heartfelt and insightful collection of wisdom, distilled from a lifetime of experiences and encounters. Each “letter” is a gem, filled with poignant anecdotes, practical advice, thought-provoking reflections, and life-changing insights that will inspire you to live with greater purpose, compassion, and joy. Whether you’re navigating the challenges of youth, the complexities of adulthood, or the uncertainties of old age, Things We’ve Handed Down is a luminous guide that will help you find your way through the thorniest thicket of life. This book is a legacy of love and wisdom that will be cherished for generations to come.
Books are a dialogue between writer and reader. That is the case with this book but with a significant addition: this book is a dialogue between Chris Maxwell, the reader, and a dozen or so other writers who have influenced Chris and many of us. This makes Things We’ve Handed Down like a living three-way conversation with Chris, we, the readers, and people like C.S. Lewis, Walter Wangerin, Jr., Henri Nouwen, Frederick Buechner. Picture yourself in a quiet place where you listen in to the conversations in this book. You will sit enthralled and leave inspired after each chapter.
In Things We’ve Handed Down, Chris Maxwell helps us to acknowledge and face the inner struggles, the loss and disappointment, which seem to be erased and banned from the pages of our social media or even our ordinary conversation. In a society where everyone is supposed to be happy and successful, sorrow and disappointment are taboo. Chris boldly breaks the taboo, and in these twelve intimate letters, he offers real wisdom and insight, not privately, or subjectively on his own part, but passing on the wisdom of ages, the wisdom of others acquired in his deep reading and deep living. This is a book that fearlessly searches our wounds but also offers us hope and healing.
Thoughts on Chapter One: “Disappointment with God”
How do you begin a book? Start with humor? Offer an inviting story? To lure readers to dive in and stay in the stream of words, what is the best literary enticement? How should I begin my book, Things We’ve Handed...
Peculiar Treasures
Do you use either of these two words? Peculiar? Treasures? Do you ever use them together: peculiar treasures? I rarely say, or write, peculiar. I rarely state, or type, treasures. I rarely mention, or journal, peculiar treasures. But in my book Things...
