Nurturing the Garden

Aug 09, 2020 Book Review…, News

Book Review…

Book: Nurturing the Garden of Joy – Provocative Essays on Relationships
Author: Claudette Joy Spence
Critic: Glenville Ashby, PhD

Your Daily Word.
In Nurturing the Garden, Claudette Joy Spence administers to the unsuspecting and the unseasoned. And to those harangued by the ghost of Sisyphus, she offers hope.
Nurturing the Garden is penned with the insight of an elder and the self-assurance and savoir vivre of a sage.
Her musings serve as a compass for those swerving from the path of fulfillment.
In ‘We Know when we Know,’ she celebrates the power of femininity.
“The excitement and joy about being a woman comes from our special ability to convey love, joy, hope, faith and intuition…Many women have no doubt been asked, in the absence of evidence, “How do you know that!” We know when we know. Call it a special privilege – When communication with Life is open and consistent, we enjoy the privilege.”
Throughout, Spence assumes an inexorable sense of confidence, ever mindful of our resourcefulness. In ‘No Wretch Here,’ she lays claim to this birthright.
She chides the self-deprecating lyrics of Amazing Grace, words that read, ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. She avers, “I don’t sing that anymore, since I am convinced that I am no wretch. And neither are you! She adds, “Examine the songs you’ve have been singing for years to see which lyrics reinforce negative images in you. She impresses her truth, “We are worthy. We are worthy irrespective of the errors and mistakes we make.”
In ‘Ending Relationships,’ Spence calls for reflection and reexamination of behaviors that stymie our professional development. “Honestly assess. Constructively analyze,” she counsels. “Determine the type of environment in which you want to work and the way you want to be treated in the workplace. Actively seek those relationships. Critically and reasonably assess which of your actions you need to change into a consistent behavior pattern.”
On a personal level, she cautions against abusive relationships in ‘Is He Likely to be Abusive – Some Early Warning Signs.’ She calls for temperance and prudence before commitment, for only then can the true nature of one’s suitor be discerned. “Once you are in an abusive relationship,” she warns, “it can be very difficult and painful to extricate yourself from it. But you must leave.” And welcoming is Spence’s panoptic view of victimization. “All intimate relationships are fertile ground for abuse.”
‘The Power of “No” addresses a common personality defect. While the source of this trait is outside the purview of this work, she offers solutions.
She writes, “Saying “no” is powerful! Saying “no” to an excessive or unreasonable demand on your time, talent and other resources is healthy for you. Reclaim your time for yourself.”
Ready yourself to be maligned, but be steadfast and unbowed by criticism is her message. “Don’t be swayed… You’re taking back control of your life…You will like yourself better and that is what is important.”
Equally engaging and instructive is ‘Men of Father’s Day – Recognize those Responsible Men.’ It is a timely treatise that prioritizes the black family.
“Let’s give recognition to those responsible men who have taken the necessary steps to ensure that they do not bring children into one more single-parent household,” she writes. “[W]here as people of African descent living in these Americas, the child and his/her parent will have far too many unnecessary barriers placed in their lives to deter and undermine the child’s success and fulfillment.”
In the thought-provoking, ‘Man’s Role as Provider,’ Spence challenges social norms as the measurement of one’s true worth.
She asks, almost rhetorically, “Is a man a man if he is not able to provide for his lady? She prods, “Is a man’s ability to provide support, financially, a criteria for manhood? And if he is not able to provide emotional support, does that distract from his manhood?”
In like vein, Spence speaks of self-recognition and personal responsibility in ‘What Makes Your World Turn’.
“[E]very woman has her own challenges [and] every man has his own challenges,” and that “the world turns against you when you do not realize what your insecurities and unworkable beliefs and values are. And that “the world turns against you when you turn against yourself.”
Provocative is the philosophical, ‘To Be Alive.’ Here, Spence explores man’s eternal grapple with the unknown, with his mortality and his uneasy dance with life.
“I think we are thankful that we’re still alive because we’re afraid of death,” she argues. “As good as or as bad as times get here, we know this is life. Our teachings, our experiences, our faith have not brought us to that point for us to not fear death and embrace the goodness of eternity that is promised us.”
And sealing the book’s overarching thrust is ‘Fruits of Discipline,’ where she brings her professional and personal experience to bear on her every word. She advises, “…to be more successful in the workplace, we have to broaden our approach from teaching job skills to teaching life skills.”
There is clarity in meditation, she opines, convinced of its multifarious rewards. Beholden to her Christian values, she unreservedly refers to that practice as prayer. “The important thing I emphasize is that this consistent daily practice begins to build a discipline that can have greater impact on our abilities to acquire material things we want to enjoy and to help us grow to become the people we want to become.”
‘Nurturing the Garden’ is stripped of all academic pretense. Spence serves as a ‘warner’ among us, presenting her truths, many timeless and incontestable. Her work reads as a codex, an enduring admonition worthy of reflection, her every counsel proving transformational, if only we listen.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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ISBN: 9798603745121
Available at Amazon
Ratings: Highly Recommended