Yesterday morning I was sitting quietly having my tea while the rest of the house slept. I was beginning to pray fervently about some things weighing on my mind with loved ones. I started my usual "Oh please God…" when He suddenly stopped my prayer, and almost like He was standing in front of me, said as plain as day in my head, "Linda! You have to be still in me and let me do my work. A loved one has asked you to be still in them and let them do their work, and so now you must be still in both of us." This was amazing – I think I can recall years ago it happening to me once before. The voice was so clear and thought-stopping, it just had to be God intervening, because I'm not smart enough to come up with such startling revelations on my own – especially at 7 am.
Later on that day I received an email for a writing workshop to be held here on the cape in March. The title intrigued me, so I read further into the message. The workshop, entitled The Fire Within, was to be given by award winning author, Anne LeClaire. She was our speaker at our October Writer's Night Out, and I remember being very moved by her words that night. I had never read any of her books, so I immediately searched my kindle. She has eight novels and the newest one is a personal memoir titled "Listening Beneath the Noise". It is her personal journey through silence. Nineteen years ago she decided two Mondays a month would be her silent days. She would not talk, text, or email anyone, including her husband and this caused a bit of discord between them. I bought the book and read the whole thing yesterday. It was so engrossing it would not leave me alone. I paused to eat and take a brief walk, but jumped right back into my chair with the book.
I usually don't behave this way with a book. I pick it up when nothing else is going on and I like to savor and think about the characters for the few days it takes me to read it. Not so with this book. Now one might say, "Yes, I have done that with a really good book before. " And so have I, but those books were always fiction and always a mystery with a myriad of unanswered questions. This was a memoir of a woman not talking, a book I expected would take me a week or so to read because it just wouldn't have that "I gotta see what happens next" pull.
Well, I was sure surprised. My first thought before I began the book was "How was she going to write a whole book just about silence?" (As a beginning writer, the thought of writing 100,000 words about anything, much less silence, is daunting.) As I began to read, Anne's writing style and the way she conveys ideas touched me just as deeply as her presentation at our dinner that night. You cannot believe how much there is in silence that touches our lives.
Living alone, on the Cape, for three days a week, a silent day is not uncommon or out of reach for me, but I never stopped to think about the proverbial "pot of gold" sitting untouched in these silent cape winter days. That morning I was forced to sit and pray in silence because we had guests for the holiday weekend and people were sound asleep in every room, including the TV/family room. I usually have Internet radio on when I sit in my chair in my serenity room to chat with God. Most days He sits in the rocking chair opposite me and we commiserate on my life and the state of the world as the music plays. ( I commiserate and He listens.) But today, in the dead silence, He didn't let me get three words out. He didn't sit in the rocking chair. He stood there, said His piece, then went away, leaving ME in the silence. I was a bit unnerved being alone in it. God let me struggle for awhile, then sent me the email, the workshop, the person, and the book, about of all things, SILENCE. Just the title of the book takes my breath away, and tells you what kind of talent this author possess to pack such a wallop in just the title.
Listening Beneath the Noise. Wow.
God left me, but He left me to spend an amazing day with an amazing woman. Needless to say, I immediately signed up to take the workshop, because this "fire within" to use my words burns daily, and there is no better master at "using words" to learn from than Anne LeClaire.
And so, as another day goes by, I have 7 more novels to read, the gold found in silence to discover, and….I have written.
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