Sue Monk Kidd: Connections, Travel Near and Far
blue mosque
“Remember the little flame on the Easter candle. Cup your heart around it. Your darkness will become the light.”—Sue Monk Kidd, “A Journal Entry” in When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions (HarperOne, 1992).
I wish I had Sue Monk Kidd’s When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions with me to read when meeting with other spiritual friends. I hope to remember her message about waiting. Many friends seeking direction live in the biblical tradition of waiting, the “night sea journey”: Jonah in the belly of the whale, Christ in the tomb, or Joseph in the well, where there is only darkness.
I hope to remember Kidd’s phrase when we have difficulty letting go: “Put on your courage suit” and cross the bridge to letting go.
I began this book on Maundy Thursday in the Chapel of Repose, where the Reserved Sacrament was kept. I ended it in Greece, with my husband, my daughter, and her husband, in the fourth week of Easter as we overlooked the Acropolis.
Kidd’s later books recount her trips to Greece, especially with her daughter, and her growing connection to the feminine aspect of herself and God. My daughter and I wrote a book together, as Kidd and her daughter did—so much serendipity.
Kidd ends her book by describing a drawing of a mother and child that emerged from her true inner self, based on a sketch she made at Kanuga, the home of my spiritual direction class. Several years ago, on Mother’s Day, we dedicated a sculpture of a mother and child in the garden next to St. Luke’s chapel, a piece my husband had commissioned.
More connections.
As you can see, Sue Monk Kidd captures my attention and speaks to me. Today, as I relive journeys, I try to follow more of Kidd’s guidance, stay in the moment, and feed my soul real food instead of junk food.
I am remembering past trips to ancient and nearby parts of the world we both visited with our daughter and granddaughters on land and sea, where we learned, surrounded by those we love and away from our busy world, to let go and be in the moment.
Retrace your steps in your mind to a country you once visited with loved ones, perhaps carrying a book by a favorite author. Maybe you traveled to England, Italy, China, Spain, Germany, Greece, Norway, France, South Africa, Canada, Mexico, or Israel.
I remember Buechner’s words in Wishful Thinking: “There are two ways of remembering. One is to make an excursion from the living present back into the dead past. The old sock remembers how things used to be when you and I were young, Maggie.”
The other way is to summon the dead past back into the living present. The young widow remembers her husband, and he is beside her. When Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ (1 Corinthians 11:24), he was not prescribing a periodic dose of nostalgia.
Give thanks for those you love who have traveled with you. Give thanks for writers who speak to your soul. Pray for that author, your family, and the people in that country to remain safe, especially the families in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Joanna joannaseibert.com. https://www.joannaseibert.com/