What do you think?
Rate this book
Things That Matter Most: Essays on Home, Friendship, and Love
Have you forgotten how wondrous life can be? Christopher de Vinck offers a timeless collection of wisdom on family, childhood, God, love, compassion, buttered toast, snowmen, Hamlet, Bugs Bunny, bees.
For anyone who is caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, weary and perhaps a little jaded by all that seems wrong in the world, this is a book that helps us to see again.
In essays that are warm, evocative, and often amusing, Christopher De Vinck gives us back the eyes of a child, the fresh vision of delight, and a renewed reminder that we are surrounded with awe that we often take for granted. This is a book about living with a perpetual array of the voices of people we love, the taste of marzipan, the sounds of October geese. This is a book that reminds us to look, smell, see, touch, and listen to what is revealed to us each morning. Chris invites us to realize life as we live it, every minute.
Reflecting on the joys of family, writing, and education, Chris doesn’t shy away from loneliness, disappointments and regrets. His is a voice that combines both the joys and sorrows of living, speaking with hope and acceptance, and celebrating the power of simplicity in our modern age.
"In his classic book The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry famously suggested that ‘it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ With the elegance of a poet, the wonder of child-like eyes, and the discipline of one who steadfastly pays attention to the world around and within him, Christopher de Vinck’s Things That Matter Most helps us see with our hearts—to see rightly— those things that are essential to a life A place to truly call home, friends who sustain and nurture one another, and the love of a God who knows us as children of great worth.” — Jeff Crosby , author of Language of the Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts
For anyone who is caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, weary and perhaps a little jaded by all that seems wrong in the world, this is a book that helps us to see again.
In essays that are warm, evocative, and often amusing, Christopher De Vinck gives us back the eyes of a child, the fresh vision of delight, and a renewed reminder that we are surrounded with awe that we often take for granted. This is a book about living with a perpetual array of the voices of people we love, the taste of marzipan, the sounds of October geese. This is a book that reminds us to look, smell, see, touch, and listen to what is revealed to us each morning. Chris invites us to realize life as we live it, every minute.
Reflecting on the joys of family, writing, and education, Chris doesn’t shy away from loneliness, disappointments and regrets. His is a voice that combines both the joys and sorrows of living, speaking with hope and acceptance, and celebrating the power of simplicity in our modern age.
"In his classic book The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry famously suggested that ‘it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ With the elegance of a poet, the wonder of child-like eyes, and the discipline of one who steadfastly pays attention to the world around and within him, Christopher de Vinck’s Things That Matter Most helps us see with our hearts—to see rightly— those things that are essential to a life A place to truly call home, friends who sustain and nurture one another, and the love of a God who knows us as children of great worth.” — Jeff Crosby , author of Language of the Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts
- GenresEssays
176 pages, Paperback
Published October 25, 2022
14 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 9, 2023
Summary: A collection of essays that remind us that the things that matter most are as close as the beauty of things around us from fireflies, to Fred Rogers, to friends and family, and to the tip of our fingers.
A few years ago, we were staying at an inn with a patio that looked out over fields in a rural setting. We were sitting as the evening was coming on and we began to see the meadow before us lit up with a light show of fireflies. We sat in wonder, recalling our memories of catching fireflies as children and the unfading wonder of these insects that can generate their own light beckoning, “Here I am.”
Christopher de Vinck’s collection of essays brought these memories to mind and how such simple and wondrous things point us to what matters most in our lives. His essays take us from the sea shore to the woods and to the wondrous “blue birds” seen by his mother, emigrating from Belgium, our common blue jay.
More than the wonders of our world, he explores the wonder of friendships. One of the earliest essays in the collection describes his “spiritual neighbor,” Fred Rogers who often ended conversations saying, “Well, Chris, you know who’s in charge.” He writes of the compassion of a policeman who caught up to his son on the highway to return a wallet the son had left on the car roof.
He moves from personal friends to those in literature from Hamlet to Jay Gatsby to Atticus Finch and Emily Dickinson and May Sarton, all people who give him some insight into the question of what matters most. He gives thanks to Wendell Berry and Toni Morrison. He reminds us of what J.D. Salinger, Paul Revere, and Alfred Stieglitz have in common–a shared birthday. He writes of helping the students he taught to find themselves in the literature they read:
“When we know who we are we can build a life upon wisdom, love, and compassion, and set the footprint of our lives firmly onto the earth for others to find who need the evidence and the inheritance of goodness as a guide for the future. When we know what matters most, we know where we are going” (p. 18).
His memories run back to his own childhood, to the Kennedy assassination, and down to the present, the closure of a neighborhood hardware store, and the death of loved ones. An essay of hearing a dripping of melting water outside turns into a reflection of the passage of time, and this is something that runs through his essays. He makes us aware of the fleeting wonder that is our lives, how full and rich and precious our shared moments are, precisely because they pass.
He concludes with recounting the death of his mother at 99, as “time ran out.” Not long before she died, she observed, “You don’t think of it, Christopher, but far ahead, yet closer than a heartbeat, something immense, wild, holy grabs you and won’t let go.” Her final words to Christopher? “I love you.”
We live in a broken and yet beautiful world with eternity in our hearts and mortality as our future. Christopher de Vinck offers us wonderful reflections on the seemingly ordinary, that point us to the truly precious in life.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
A few years ago, we were staying at an inn with a patio that looked out over fields in a rural setting. We were sitting as the evening was coming on and we began to see the meadow before us lit up with a light show of fireflies. We sat in wonder, recalling our memories of catching fireflies as children and the unfading wonder of these insects that can generate their own light beckoning, “Here I am.”
Christopher de Vinck’s collection of essays brought these memories to mind and how such simple and wondrous things point us to what matters most in our lives. His essays take us from the sea shore to the woods and to the wondrous “blue birds” seen by his mother, emigrating from Belgium, our common blue jay.
More than the wonders of our world, he explores the wonder of friendships. One of the earliest essays in the collection describes his “spiritual neighbor,” Fred Rogers who often ended conversations saying, “Well, Chris, you know who’s in charge.” He writes of the compassion of a policeman who caught up to his son on the highway to return a wallet the son had left on the car roof.
He moves from personal friends to those in literature from Hamlet to Jay Gatsby to Atticus Finch and Emily Dickinson and May Sarton, all people who give him some insight into the question of what matters most. He gives thanks to Wendell Berry and Toni Morrison. He reminds us of what J.D. Salinger, Paul Revere, and Alfred Stieglitz have in common–a shared birthday. He writes of helping the students he taught to find themselves in the literature they read:
“When we know who we are we can build a life upon wisdom, love, and compassion, and set the footprint of our lives firmly onto the earth for others to find who need the evidence and the inheritance of goodness as a guide for the future. When we know what matters most, we know where we are going” (p. 18).
His memories run back to his own childhood, to the Kennedy assassination, and down to the present, the closure of a neighborhood hardware store, and the death of loved ones. An essay of hearing a dripping of melting water outside turns into a reflection of the passage of time, and this is something that runs through his essays. He makes us aware of the fleeting wonder that is our lives, how full and rich and precious our shared moments are, precisely because they pass.
He concludes with recounting the death of his mother at 99, as “time ran out.” Not long before she died, she observed, “You don’t think of it, Christopher, but far ahead, yet closer than a heartbeat, something immense, wild, holy grabs you and won’t let go.” Her final words to Christopher? “I love you.”
We live in a broken and yet beautiful world with eternity in our hearts and mortality as our future. Christopher de Vinck offers us wonderful reflections on the seemingly ordinary, that point us to the truly precious in life.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
July 19, 2023
This is a lovely collection of essays that help the reader to refocus on the things that matter. It isn't preachy. It doesn't shout at you about what should matter. Christopher de Vinck writes some beautiful, simple essays showcasing memories, daily events, and other "small stuff" kind of things that really end up being the important stuff in life. I didn't sit down and read this in one setting but chose instead to read one (or two because they really are good) at a sitting and just reflect for a moment letting the essay take me to my own memories and thoughts. In this way, the book really had a nice, calming, centering effect on me.
March 5, 2023
I did not, in fact, finish this book. But I have it a solid shot reading about 1/3 of it before there were too many “okay boomer” moments to go on. The one that finally did me in was “If we take any contemporary artwork in any modern museum and compare that work with Michelangelo’s, we would be ashamed.” Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean you get to be judgey about it. I didn’t benefit from the essays in the first third enough to push on further.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews