Britts lived that English experience during the days of World War II -- when Germans (the Bruderhof started in Germany) were part of this pacifist community, sharing with the English all the daily needs in a communal life. The English were none-too-impressed. The pressure for the Germans to be expelled was tremendous: Either they emigrated or the community faced even more pressure. So they chose -- as a community -- to leave England and settle in Paraguay.
It was never an easy life. Farmland had to be tilled, crops planted and harvested, locusts fought, strange diseases encountered (one would eventually kill Britts when he was 31).
Britts kept a personal journal during this period -- which became the fodder for Water at the Roots. The poetry and its reflections will doubtless remind readers of Wendell Berry. That's because the spiritual wisdom that's here is as deep as the earth itself, and as old as human thriving with the land, when that thriving is seen as an expression of faith in God.
What readers will ultimately find in this book is a living expression of the words of Acts from the New Testament. And that expression will change your life when you take it seriously.
Water at the Roots is a book to relish -- take the reading slowly. Let its refreshment transform you. It has me.
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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review here.