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Blessed are the Rest of Us: How Limits and Longing Make Us Whole

Micha Boyett has learned that you can’t do it all, and thanks be to God, you don’t have to. She invites parents and others operating in high-achievement “hustle” culture to live into a value system embodied by Jesus and exemplified in the Beatitudes. — Sarah S. Scherschligt

Micha Boyett
Brazos Press, 204 pages
Published April 9, 2024

She has learned that you can’t do it all, and thanks be to God, you don’t have to. Boyett invites parents and others operating in high-achievement “hustle” culture to live into a value system embodied by Jesus and exemplified in the Beatitudes.

Micha Boyett’s spiritual memoir, Blessed are the Rest of Us, addresses three different themes: the Beatitudes, parenting a child with Down syndrome and autism, and the evolution of the author’s faith as she discovers the true meaning of Jesus’ proclamation of blessedness.

First, the Beatitudes. Boyett – a podcaster, popular writer and youth director – offers a fresh “rendering” of the Beatitudes. With a poet’s creativity and an academic’s rigor, she dives deep, bringing to the surface new layers of meaning from Jesus’ powerful but familiar poem. One of her great gifts is the recasting of common words into surprising, creative expressions. For example, she describes the “meek” as ones “who have been released from the pressure to win,” and “mercy” as “learning to look with love.” This book deserves a spot on the shelves of anyone preaching, teaching or trying to live the Beatitudes.

There’s a shadow side to this recasting. Boyett is limited by her lived experience, and her treatment falls flat when she addresses a verse with which she does not personally struggle. For instance, she translates “blessed are the poor” as “blessed are the weak.” While she wonders about Jesus’ blessing for the “materially poor” as well as the “spiritually poor,” she moves quickly to a discussion of “the weak,” glossing over the very real hardships of those in need.

Second, family life. Boyett invites us into her family story so compellingly that we truly care about this cast of characters. The book centers around Ace, the son with Down syndrome. We cheer for Ace as he learns to stand, worrying when his verbal skills start to wane. His big brothers are right there beside him; some readers will feel the weight of the eldest son’s tenderness and anxiety, while others may relate to the steadying, cheering presence of the middle child. Through it all, we ride Boyett’s parental rollercoaster, eventually reaching, with her, a place of stillness and peace. With such vivid descriptions of family life, Boyett shows the challenges of raising a child with Down syndrome, while making clear that it is nothing to be pitied.

This brings us to the third strand: Boyett’s own story, the heart of the book. She has learned that you can’t do it all, and thanks be to God, you don’t have to. Boyett invites parents and others operating in high-achievement “hustle” culture to live into a value system embodied by Jesus and exemplified in the Beatitudes. Boyett’s profound hospitality for her own spirit, and for the experiences of all her children, makes this a great parenting manual. “I receive my child,” she says, while pregnant with Ace, knowing he likely will be born with Down syndrome. This could be the mantra of any modern mama, and at the core of the Beatitudes is the belief that when God’s dream is operative, each person is received and affirmed, supported and cared for. Blessed Are the Rest of Us helps us all understand what profound grace can look like, as well as the wholeness that comes when all people are treated as blessed.

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