Early Inspirational writings from fiction author Sue Monk Kidd
Marty McLeod
Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd, by Sue Monk Kidd: Guideposts Books.
Before Sue Monk Kidd was known as the author of the best selling books The Mermaid Chair and The Secret Life of Bees, she was for twelve years a frequent contributor to the devotional magazine Guideposts. For those of us who missed reading her Guideposts pieces the first time around, and for those who recognized just how good they were when they first appeared, along comes Firstlight. Written over a twelve-year period (beginning when Kidd herself was only 29) these twelve sparkling essays show a young writer already with an uncommon gift for weaving words in to stories.
The best way to describe Firstlight is to compare it to an album of family photographs. Even though Kidd ably takes up weighty subject matter like awareness, the taste of grace, and letting go, (just to name a few) each page has on it poignant and often humorous stories. These aren’t made-up stories either, contrived to make an obvious theological point in a heavy-handed way. Like treasured family pictures, they can stand alone as snapshots of particular times and places, while hovering between an unseen future and an unrelenting past. In no way am I suggesting Kidd’s book isn’t worth reading from beginning to end. It certainly is; but if you only have time to glance at Firstlight you are sure to be captivated by her luminous stories of people just like the rest of us who fall in and out, and then back in love with God.
Here is an irresistible portrait of southern life which most of us will discern as our own. “In the south, we have a way of expressing harsh thoughts with a twist of sympathy. They tack on the words “Bless her heart.” For example; “That is the meanest, most boorish woman I ever came upon. But bless her heart”.” Isn’t blessing peoples’ hearts what we are called to do? From the same section on decorum, Kidd tells how her grandmother would intentionally misset (if that’s a word) the dining room table, just to see if her twelve year old granddaughter would have the discerning eyes to notice the knives and forks out of place.
One more picture in words we see is of the author and her husband, Sandy, volunteering at an Atlanta Homeless shelter one windy day. In the day’s waning light, they went up the steps, through the doors, and in to a cot-lined room. Immediately Kidd noticed a man in a green suit walking along the rows of cots asking the other residents “Wanna see my book?” The resident manager said “That’s James…. He’s one of a kind. Can’t read or write, but he’s got a good heart”.” After Sue and Sandy shared a meal with the residents, they sat on a torn sofa and got their chance to see James’s book, the contents of which were, “a paper napkin from a fast-food restaurant, a bluebird’s feather, a church bulletin, a faded birthday card, a pocket calendar….” On several of the book’s pages there were signatures of all those whom James could get to sign his book. At that tender moment, as she looked at all those names, what occurred to her was, “The album represented James’s list of blessings, blessings he read and reread.”
Another picture is from a time when Kidd worked as a pediatric nurse. A six-year old girl lay in a coma for weeks, yet her father continued to visit her daily, bringing her flowers and talking to her about whatever came in to his mind: her brother, their dog, the weather. Feeling as we all do when we are around inexplicable suffering, Kidd said “It must be hard to keep giving so much love when she’s …. Like this.” The little girl’s daddy said “I suppose, but I’ll keep coming and bringing the flowers and telling these stories even if she’s oblivious to it, because I love her whether or not she loves me back.”
If our lives have written upon them God’s divine alphabet, as Kidd believes they are, then how and where in the world can we ever learn to read it. Reading Firstlight isn’t a bad place to start. Or we can simply notice the silverware, and bless as many hearts as we can. We might even find ourselves sitting on a torn sofa with a lump in our throats, looking at some one else’s book.
Marty McLeod is the senior pastor at Port Wentworth UMC.
