In our smallness and fragility, we can find God’s love.
Six hundred years ago, Julian of Norwich lived in a world wrought by pandemic, persecution, war, and seismic change. As she prayed for reassurance from God, she had a vision of a hand gently holding a tiny, round thing no bigger than a hazelnut. Julian was so compelled by this vision that she spent the rest of her life shut away in a single room contemplating its meaning, eventually writing the spiritual classic Revelations of Divine Love. This miniscule thing, Julian wrote, represents all that is made. We and all creation are so small in comparison to God—yet God counts us precious.
When author Keren Dibbens-Wyatt first learned about Julian’s Revelations, she not only found parallels to her own life as a person housebound by chronic illness, but also discovered a great source of comfort and wisdom for Christian faith today. Many of us feel small and helpless in the face of global issues, wondering where God is in these turbulent times. Julian’s hazelnut vision reminds us that we are cradled in the love and safety of God.
As a modern-day mystic anchored to home by chronic illness, Dibbens-Wyatt offers these lyrical, concise meditations on contemplation, creation, and learning to accept our smallness and fragility. This hazelnut wisdom is wholly reassuring and stirs a deep and abiding faith in a God who created us, cares for us, and sustains us in love. All That Is Made invites readers into Christ-centered prayer and into perceiving the world and themselves as made, kept, and loved.
