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 "
(written in 1958, the year I was born)
