Reader's Group Guide
Gift From the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

ISBN 0-679-73241-1 w Pantheon Books w 138 pages w meditations

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God." (NIV)

1. State in your own words what gift (in the singular) Anne Lindbergh received from the sea. Following along with her meditations, what particular shell interested you the most in terms of the lesson it presented? Why?

2. What is the difference between vacations the way most people in America take them today, and the vacation Anne Lindbergh is describing? Have you ever taken a vacation by yourself? Would you find it appealing? Why or why not? What do you like best about taking a vacation?

3. This work was written in 1955. Do you feel that what she is saying is still relevant to women today? Has anything gotten better for us, or have things gotten worse (i.e. our freedoms, our commitments, our conveniences, our lifestyles)?

4. Do you agree with Anne that the American life, for the most part, destroys the soul? Explain.

5. Do you believe that you could choose to live a more simple lifestyle if you wanted to? If so, why don't you? If not, why not? Describe what simplicity of living would mean to you? Would it include being more selective in your social commitments, and how you chose and spent time with your friends?

6. What is your reaction to the idea of spending more time alone? Do you agree that society has attached a negative connotation to the concept of being alone (p. 49-50)?  Are there any biblical principles to spending time alone? Should aloneness only be something sought after by those trying to live the creative, contemplative, or saintly life? Why do these people pursue it? Do you often try to fill up the void of aloneness so that you don't have to feel it? (see p. 41) How so? When was the last time you ever spent any significant amount of time in solitude? Did you ever reach that point of feeling more connected to yourself? (see p. 44) Explain.

7. Discuss Lindbergh's ideas concerning the double-sunrise shell, the oyster bed, and the argonauta. What do you find appealing about her ideas, and with what do you disagree?

8. Has there been any person in real life, or any character in fiction, whose simple approach to living made you "envious"? Explain.

9. How might accumulating material possessions and committing to busy schedules keep us from pursuing righteousness, as Timothy said we are called to do (I Tim. 6:14)? What was Jesus' example and words to us concerning these things? Also, read Matthew 12:30 concerning the greatest commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength." (NIV) Is solitude important for obeying this commandment?