Well after struggling with a slow start to my book a month goal I finally finished Sense and Sensibility. Then yesterday I started and finished The Color of Water, a Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother by James McBride. I have started reading it before and remembered once I had started. It was such an enjoyable read before I knew it the pages flew by. His writing style was beautifully smooth and unique. I loved it. It was such an amazing story that appealed to me on so many levels and I think that is why it has been such an immense success because everyone can relate to some aspect of this woman’s life journey and struggles. Anyone who has a mother or a family and believes in the power of love, God, and faith would enjoy this book. Touching and inspirational, the story of Ruth McBride Jordan and her journey as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, servant of Christ, and believer in love above all through an alternating narrative of her and her son James. Honestly, one of my favorite reads of all time and worth reading again.
Some of my favorite lines:
One afternoon, on the way home from church, I asked her if God was black or white.
A deep sigh, ‘Oh boy, God’s not black. He’s not white. He’s a spirit.’
‘Does he like black or white people better?’
‘He loves all people. He’s a spirit.’
‘What’s a spirit?’
‘A spirit’s a spirit.’
‘What color is God’s spirit?’
‘It doesn’t have a color,’ she said. ‘God is the color of water. Water doesn’t have a color.'”
“My own humanity was awakened, rising up to greet me with a handshake as I watched the first glimmers of sunlight peek over the horizon. There’s such a big difference between being dead and alive, I told myself, and the greatest gift that anyone can give anyone else is life. And the greatest sin a person can do to another is to take away that life. Next to that, all the rule and religions in the world are secondary; mere words and beliefs that people choose to believe and kill and hate by. My life won’t be lived that way, and neither, I hope, will my children’s.”
“See, a marriage needs love. And God. And a little money. That’s all. The rest you can deal with.”
“She picked that life for herself and she lived it, that’s all. What her reasons for it were I don’t know. But she did a good job. She raised twelve children. She led a good life”
“The greatest sin a person can do to another is to take away that life. Next to that, all the rule and religions in the world are secondary; mere words and beliefs that people choose to believe and kill and hate by. My life won’t be lived that way, and neither, I hope, will my children’s. I left for New York happy in the knowledge that my grandmother had not suffered and died for nothing.”
See C Go 