Wednesday, August 3, 2011

amen

As I fed Eamon at close to 3 a.m. this morning, I read these words.

And they strongly struck my soul.

Whenever I'm reminded of the power of words, I'm humbled and awed and inspired. Because of amazing people like Courtney Jane Kendrick and Emma Lou Thayne, I'm more resolved than ever to develop what talent I have in writing, and to fit it better into my life. My soul deserves, craves, and needs it.

I love this paragraph from Kendrick:

"Emma Lou explained that those of us who are called to be writers, the writers of life, have to pay attention in a different way. We have to reserve quiet time to write what we feel. I've always loved Emma Lou's pledge to her children, 'I love you with all my heart, but not all my time' meaning that the solitude time was part of her ability to thrive. This paying attention and seeking for quiet time goes along with two ideas I've had lately, one about balancing the senses (seeing as much as hearing, touching as much as tasting) and another about this quote, 'I hold this be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.' Rainer Maria Bilke. Also, I've come to realize that most of my frustrations can be worked out either by hard work (labor) or solitude. When scrubbing the sticky dishes isn't clearing my mind, a walk by myself usually will."

Here's to making it happen.

2 comments:

Julie said...

Amen Sister . . . and if anyone can make it happen, it's you :-).

Brooke S. said...

Beautiful. I've been thinking about these things lately. In fact, I cut and pasted your whole blog post to remind me of the importance of these things. Thanks!