A Writer's Prayer

I claimed an old copy of  In the Arena by Isobel Kuhn from my parents' house. My mother and father often talked about her writings, but for some reason, I had never read them. Maybe out of regret, maybe looking for a way to be close to my parents, I picked it up and began reading.

I like to read the forward at the beginning of a book. I've learned that is where you can find an insight into the author's background and motives for the book. This one overwhelmed me, for it was speaking thoughts that were close to my heart.

"Dear Lord Jesus,

         I want to write a love letter to You. Not the 

ordinary  I-love-you kind. Nor the usual just-between-

you-and-me kind; for others will read what I write. 

Something like Elizabeth Barrett Browning's;

                      How do I love Thee?

                      Let me count the ways.

And yet not like that one either, for the subject of 

the letter is not to be my love for You. That has

been too puny, too shoddy, too besmirched with 

failure to be a theme.

        I want this letter to be a revelation of You. When 

people read it I want them to see You. when they 

find me in a perfectly hopeless situation, as so often

I was, I want them to know clearly it was You who

pulled me out,. I want them to see Your infinite

patience, Your unwavering faithfulness. Although

You work so silently, so delicately, there is a 'shining

forth' when You are present. But how can one

make other see it?

        Lord, dear, please will You help me write? I 

cannot put Your beauty into words, but if I can

show You working in the back ground of all that

happened (even as I watched You) that will be

enough. As You did revel Yourself to me, please

reveal Yourself to them!

   You own - by right of purchase, then by 

self-surrender.                Isobel S. Kuhn "

In The Arena by Isobel S. Kuhn

(written in 1958, the year I was born)