Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

  • Home
  • About
  • DISCLOSURES
    • Amazon Affiliate
    • Book Reviews
  • Published
  • Contact
  • Blog
    • Commit Poetry
    • Dared

Spiritual Seizures, Surrender, Starvation, and Possibility

June 7, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

It’s an Indian taco spread, and I’ve heaped my plate. I’m munching homemade tortilla chips while I watch the birthday girl in the air-filled jump house. And one of my daughter’s friends, he says those words. “You’re a good writer, right?”

I stare a minute, and mutter quiet. “Um, I write.”

Mentally I smack myself upside the head. I’ve finally gotten used to saying, “I’m a writer. Yes, I’m a writer.” Claiming that. Declaring that.

But a “good” writer? I’m still working on it.

******************************

“Warning: Do not skip the tool of reading deprivation!” I can just see Julia wagging her finger at me, looking me stern in the eye.

No reading? That’s right: no reading. For most artists, words are like tiny tranquilizers . . . Like greasy food, it clogs our system. Too much of it and we feel, yes, fried . . . Reading deprivation casts us into our inner silence, a space some of us begin to immediately fill with new words–long, gossipy conversations, television bingeing, the radio as a constant, chatty companion. We often cannot hear our own inner voice of our artist’s inspiration, above the static . . . For most blocked creatives, reading is an addiction. We gobble the words of others rather than digest our own thoughts and feelings, rather than cook up something of our own. ~p. 87

Yeah, I don’t know if I can do that. Just thinking about it has blocked me this week. I went on a reading fast for an extended period once. Nothing but scripture. That was a good thing. Julia suggests only a week. But to not read your blogs for a whole week? I’d miss so much. I might starve without my word bread. Without your words.

Or would I? (No offense.)

Julia talks about spiritual seizures and surrender. And about how finding when we work with the morning pages, we can become aware of a sense of movement, a “current of change,” a “flow of grace.”

“We startle ourselves by saying yes instead of no to opportunities.”

Oh my goodness. Isn’t this what our pastor talked about on Sunday? The importance of flexibility. Of stepping into the unknown like Abraham. No map. Just going with the flow. Depending on His current. Bending and trusting.

He talked about how we’re all living in God’s Plan B after Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden. But how He still has Plan A’s for us in the midst of Plan B. But if we don’t float with His Plan A, He’ll go to a Plan B. Like the Israelites. The plan was to “leave Egypt, get the Ten Commandments, move into the Promised Land. Two months tops.”  But they wouldn’t move and ended up spending 40 years in the wilderness.

I don’t have 40 years to spend in the wilderness.

******************************

I startled myself this week. I responded to a synchronous turn in the river. I agreed to wade into an adventure that was not on my current map. The one that pointed across the ocean to another continent.

My husband put the financial nix on going to Kenya (my dream) over my birthday in January. A Compassion sponsor tour to meet our girl. I pouted awhile but yielded. And the next day the compass spun south, pointed to an island closer to home. I got an invitation from a friend to join her team heading to a Haitian orphanage in December.

“Your writing will never be the same,” she wrote.

I said yes.

With my husband’s blessing.

Who knows what possibility lies ahead?

And chances are I won’t be reading your blogs that week.

We’re working on weeks 4 and 5, “Recovering a Sense of Integrity” and “Recovering a Sense of Possibility.” Come on over to Tweetspeak Poetry as we continue to discuss The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron.

On In Around button

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: stories and reflections, writing

Comments

  1. Joy says

    June 7, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    I admire people like you who can write and play with words. Makes written words more exciting. English in not my mother language, so I struggle explaining what I want to share. But, I too love reading and writing and hearing from GOd.

  2. Megan Willome says

    June 7, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    OK, let me say it if you won’t: You ARE a good writer. I hang on your words, Sandy. Although it’s fine for you not to write in order to go to Haiti and get more words to write. 🙂

  3. S. Etole says

    June 7, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Looking forward as always to your words.

  4. imperfect prose says

    June 7, 2012 at 10:53 pm

    oh, i can’t wait to see that orphanage, that ministry, that country, through your eyes friend. God is good.

  5. diana says

    June 8, 2012 at 12:32 am

    Ditto to what Megan said. I do that a lot, actually – agree with Megan, that is. YOU ARE A GOOD WRITER. Yes, you are. And disqus may hate you, but I l-u-r-v-e-s you a lot.

  6. Ellen Grace Olinger says

    June 8, 2012 at 3:13 am

    “He still has Plan A’s for us …”

  7. journeytoepiphany says

    June 8, 2012 at 7:54 am

    (sigh) I wish I had time to be joining you in the Artist’s Way. I am training for my new job and trying to find a rhythm in life at the moment. When I get there, maybe I’ll catch up. (sigh)So excited about how God moved in your life through your husband to get you to His plan A for your life. Praying for you, dear one.

  8. JoAnne Potter says

    June 8, 2012 at 9:17 am

    Liking the concept of your “spiritual seizures.” That’s exactly what they feel like–a tight clamp from which we have to wrestle release.

  9. Linda says

    June 8, 2012 at 11:42 am

    You, dearest Sandy, are a GOOD WRITER! Yes you are.
    I understand about the fast from reading. It would be so difficult for me, and yet I realize that when I begin my time by reading blogs I suddenly feel as though I have nothing worthwhile to write myself. I am somehow emptied by being filled.
    I am so excited for you Sandy. What an answer to your fervent prayers. Perhaps not in the way you planned, but I’ve discovered (the hard way!) His plans always end up being so much better than mine.

  10. Martha Orlando says

    June 8, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    You are an excellent writer, Sandy, and that’s why I follow your blog. You always have something inspirational to share and you express your ideas so well. Today’s post is no exception.
    Blessings!

  11. Jennifer@GDWJ says

    June 9, 2012 at 9:29 am

    This is so exciting, Sandy. Tell me more about your trip. Where in Haiti? What group? If you have time, let me know. I’d like to pray for you that week.

    I took my computer to Haiti, because we were told that we would have Internet access there. We did. And for the first time in my blogging life, I wrote every single day. It was exhausting. And exhilarating. I really felt like part of my purpose in going to Haiti was to share the stories.

    That being said … I can see the benefit of not writing a single word while in Haiti — though you’ll definitely be reading living letters. What an amazing country, with such faith-filled people!

    And P.S. — You’re not only a good writer, you’re a GREAT one. You need to know that.

  12. Cindee Snider Re says

    June 22, 2012 at 7:45 pm

    God’s incredible plans in His own perfect timing! LOVE that you’re heading to Haiti. Early Tuesday morning two of mine are leaving for Potter’s House in Guatemala – my son’s fifth trip, my daughter’s second. And every time they are forever changed.

    Bless you BEAUTIFUL WRITER! And soooo looking forward to the words God weaves into your soul to flow right on through to us. 🙂

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

Get updates from the stillness by email

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Archives

Categories

Instagram Inspiration

sandraheskaking

Happy first day of fall from my backyard to yours. Happy first day of fall from my backyard to yours.
Just another backyard photo… Just another backyard photo…
From my backyard tonight. From my backyard tonight.
Just another sunset. Just another sunset.
“I would like people to remember of me, how inex “I would like people to remember of me, how inexhaustible was her mindfulness.” ~ Mary Oliver in “ A Little Ado About This and That.”
Current situation. Current situation.
“This spark of life that wavest wings of gold” “This spark of life that wavest wings of gold” ~ Thomas Wentworth Higginson in “Ode to a Butterfly”
🦋
We pulled all the milkweed because it just could not support all the caterpillars. They were eating it bare and most of them died because they ran out of food. This one butterfly found this one lone volunteer.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright futur "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." ~ E.B. White (as quoted on today's page in my Franklin Planner)
"May you experience each day as a sacred gift wove "May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder." ~ John O'Donohue in "For Presence" from To Bless the Space Between Us
🌴
Tri-colored heron stalking breakfast in my backyard.
“. . neighbor’s tree hangs heavy with mangoes “. .  neighbor’s tree hangs heavy with mangoes. They are moving in a week. They say a family from Belarus bought the house. I hope they don’t care much for mangoes.”
**
“Beautiful Sweet Things” at https://sandraheskaking.substack.com/
"People do not grow old. When they cease to grow t "People do not grow old. When they cease to grow they become old.” ~ Emerson

It's been a while since I've written anything on my blog. Like 3 years. But I just wrote my first post on Substack. Come see?

https://sandraheskaking.substack.com/p/ten-years-ten-things
Spent a couple hours this morning with friends fro Spent a couple hours this morning with friends from @spanishriverchurch picking up beach trash. Little bits of colored and clear plastic, big bits of plastic, bottle caps, broken glass, strings, ropes, straws, socks, fast food containers, paper, cigarette holders and filters—and a couple unmentionables. Took extra care around the turtle nests. Last count was about 70 pounds, but there were also some bigger things like an abandoned chair and a plastic tent. And a big piece of burlap or something with a fishing lure and giant hook attached. D found a Macy’s gift card that he almost tossed in his bucket. But we brought it home to check the balance—$24.60! We should be able to turn that into something useful for someone. 😊
H Already dead, I am living my afterlife here in t H
Already dead, I am
living my afterlife
here
in the form of a human.
~ Xueyan from Time Peels All to Original White

Thanks to @tspoetry for introducing me to this beautiful collection via an Every Day Poems selection.
The cats attacked the window all night. The dog wo The cats attacked the window all night. The dog woofed all night. This morning we discovered the would-be burglar imprisoned between the screen and the glass on our bedroom slider. 

When I stepped out to release it (no bail), I was surprised by this brief bit of backyard beauty.
For most of us, knowledge of our world comes large For most of us, knowledge of our world comes largely through sight, yet we look about with such unseeing eyes that we are partially blind. One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?" ~ Rachel Carson in The Sense of Wonder
#prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michigan #prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michiganstateuniversity
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faith Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. ~ Psalm 136:1
A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana in the background until I downloaded the photos. That, I believe, is the one that got caught in one of the openings in the neighbor's chain link fence. We tried in several (safe) ways to dislodge it without luck and could think of no other option but to leave it. Somehow it apparently dislodged itself. We also believe this is the pair that was getting into another neighbor's garden. We haven't seen either one since the last cold snap, so we are wondering if they survived. 
🌱
Thinking some may have tumbled from their perches last night. Pretty sure it will be raining iguanas tonight since we are under a frost advisory. It's cold. And windy.
Just sing... sing a song... Singing our way into Just sing... sing a song... 

Singing our way into the weekend.
"We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramse "We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramsey in Rembrandt is in the Wind
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Get the Mug

Embrace the life you have t s poetry mug

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy is available HERE.

I Read Light

TSP-Red button

bibledude-net



Sponsor a Child

Join the Compassion Blogger Network

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2023 Sandra Heska King · Site by The Willingham Enterprise, LLC on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Log in