Picking Dandelions: A Search for Eden Among Life's Weeds - Softcover

Sarah Cunningham, a moderate middle-class white girl who grew up in the Michigan countryside, speaks about God with humor and honesty more characteristic of liberal west-coast writers. In this warm and witty memoir, she describes finding and keeping a personal faith in the quirky settings of her ultra-Christian childhood. Whether recounting living next to a cemetery, teaching at-risk high schoolers, or listening to her grandmother's stories about being a British 'war bride,' the author weaves faith into down-to-earth metaphors of growth and renewal, planting and reaping, greenery and weeds. In the end, Cunningham succeeds in sifting through the dysfunctions and flaws of human life and discovering pockets of God's original Eden goodness for both herself and for you.Picking Dandelions is a candid and personal account of outgrowing laissez-faire Christianity, moving into mature faith, and realizing that a God-following person is a changing person ... and you just might follow suit.

In this warm and witty memoir, Sarah Cunningham shares more than just a chronicle of the people and experiences of her life. Each story she recounts illustrates her growing understanding of God's kingdom, true faith, and reconciliation.The daughter of a Baptist minister, Cunningham had always identified herself as a Christian and never entertained a reason to change. But challenges and change, the author discovers, are the stuff and substance of the life God gave her. As her own stories unfold, Cunningham underscores themes of change using vivid imagery. Whether she's describing her life as a child living next to a cemetery, or her grandmother's adjustments to life as an English “war bride” after WWII, the author evokes carefully crafted pictures of growth and renewal, planting and reaping, greenery and weeds--tying it all to heaven and the life God wants for her and her readers.Picking Dandelions is a candid and personal account of outgrowing laissez-faire Christianity, moving into mature faith, and realizing that a God-following person is a changing person. Discerning readers just might follow suit.