A Favorite Author

I read The Secret Life of Bee's awhile back and it is one of my all-time favorite books. I loved Sue Monk Kidd's writing style and was enthralled with the book almost from the beginning. I say almost because the first part is difficult to read. Then it gets much better. I won't spoil it by sharing more.

Later I came across some of my Mom's books and found Firstlight, The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd. I'm thinking it's her early work, so it may not be as incredible as The Secret Life of Bee's, but I was still intrigued. So I'm reading this book and progressively enjoying it more and more...so much so that I've been dog-earing pages I want to reference later. I never do that. And several times I've thought about how I'll definitely read this book again at some point. And I rarely say that.

I'll share a few parts that were especially touching...

God doesn't answer prayer as we expect. Sometimes when we pray for a certain virtue - like patience -God does not necessarily send it to us in a package ready for instant use. We are much more likely to be put in a situation where we are given the opportunity to develop that virtue.

When a suffering is shared, its weight is divided. And when a joy is shared, the delight is ultiplied. We need each other.

I slip out into a star-filled summer night. Alone I look up and pretend the stars appear only once every hundred years. And tonight is the night! I begin to see the grandeur of th eheavens, the sky feweled with countless twinkling lanterns. In the timeless constellations, I see God's signature. In the night wind, I feel a touch. In the whisper of leaves, I hear a song. Just like that, my soul wakes up! Once more, for me, the universe is crammed with God.