WRITING & WORDS :: Morning, in Which I Pull Letters into Words so you can Read Them /or/ The Humble Beginnings of a Magazine Article

It’s a rare morning, this. Up earlier than the baby, and unable to fall back asleep, I pull the lace-trimmed sheets back up to my chin.

I roll over and reach for my iDevice, and touch the screen to open the YouVersion app. I will my eyes to focus, and read out loud quietly.

“When the Cloud lifted above the Tent, the People of Israel marched out; and when the Cloud descended the people camped….It made no difference whether the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the Cloud was there, they were there. And when the Cloud went up, they got up and marched. They camped at God’s command and they marched at God’s command.” -Numbers 9

“I like that the longest time listed is a year”, says Josiah. I smile.

“I’m serious,” he continues. “It’s nice that it doesn’t say, ‘…ten years’ or something.”

I nod, and look back at the passage. I don’t always know why we are here. But I know God’s presence is here. I like that. I like knowing that. He leads us.

I get out of bed, sleepy but happy.

“Let’s have coffee?” I ask hopefully. He always makes the coffee.

I stare out the window, watching the light at the toll booth turn red, green, red. Every so often, a car speeds through without paying and the light stays red.

Words tumble in my mind, as I mentally start sorting sentences for the magazine articles I am working on. I sit down at the table, and start to scratch out words the old-fashioned way, with a pen. I move words around with a ink-drawn arrow, not a virtual one.

Slowly, the words begin to flow. I feel a sudden surge of excitement; I might actually be able to knock these articles out this morning! And then, just a few sentences in, I sneeze involuntarily, and my sneeze is echoed by Aveline’s sudden cry.

I can’t help but smile, even as I shake my head in disbelief.

I close my notebook.

“Good morning, Aveline!” I call out as I walk through the sunshine to her bedroom door.

Until I sit down again, these sentences will be calling to me, waiting for me to pull each of these letters and words into living stories so you can drink them in.