Thursday, June 18, 2009

Polished to a Sheen

Just before I awoke this morning, I had a short dream. In the dream I hurriedly skimmed a dust mop across a vinyl-covered kitchen floor before I put it away. "There. It's done." (At least I thought so.) I could not see the face of the person behind me, but a long, extended arm and finger pointed to a dirty spot in one corner. This finger seemed to represent an authority figure.

I pulled out a brush, dipped it in water, and scrubbed at the grime. The brush lifted the soil, but left a dingy place. I remembered the pointing finger and knew I could not leave the floor in this condition.

I searched underneath the sink until I found a spray bottle filled with a super cleaner that promised to leave a high gloss. I sprayed the cleaner on the sponge, rubbed on the dull spot, then stepped back to assess my work.

The surface glowed back at me. My extra effort had paid off after all.

I believe this dream symbolizes the writing process.

The dust mop stands for the short time it takes to skim over a manuscript and find the obvious errors--misspelled words, missing puncutation.

The scrub brush removes the grime. It represents the extra effort to remove excess adverbs and gerunds. Oh, those dreaded words that end in "ly" and "ing"!

Then we bring out the soft sponge and special cleaner to add the finishing touches. The sponge absorbs the passive voice while the cleaner releases the glowing beauty and graceful flow of our words.

The end result? One polished manuscript ready for submission. If we apply all these procedures step by step, God wil bless our efforts.

"The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy and loving kindness, O Lord endure for ever; forsake not the works of Your own hands." Psalm 138:8

"Without The Author, the Quill Runs Dry."

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Master of The Wind loves ME!

Hi Fellow Bloggers,

I just left Lucy Kubash's blog. If you have not read her strange incident, please take time to do so after you read this. Here's her blog address. lucynaylorkubash.blogspot.com

I had a similar supernatural experience with a tornado, late fall of '94. But let me backtrack a couple months. Have you ever heard the song, "The Master of the Wind"? In September of '94 that song kept whirling through my brain, so I bought the soundtrack with the intent to sing it during church service--if I could get up the nerve. (I'm not comfortable performing or speaking in front of a group.) Anyway,I put the tape in the car and sang it everywhere I drove.

Two months later, the Sunday following Thanksgiving, my sister and I were standing outside our mother's house when we noticed a sudden eerie calm after it had been windy. We decided it was time to leave for our homes. I had driven maybe seven miles through country backroads when I glanced to my left. About a 100 yards away in an open field, a wide band of darness stretched all the way from the sky to the ground. It wasn't your usual tornado. No funnel-shaped cloud here. Just a wide sheet that looked to be 50 feet wide.

I was scared out of my wits and started to cry out, "Lord, help me! What do I do?" It was impossible to judge whether the tornado was moving parallel to the car, or if it was headed straight for me. Keeping an eye on its position, I kept driving. I lost sight of the tornado behind tall trees when I passed a wooded area. Then the road curved to the left a half mile farther. Suddenly a thick, dark indigo cloud surrounded my car. But I kept driving slowly until I reached a low spot below a hill. I sat there about 10 minutes. Then I cranked up the car and drove home.

I had no idea of the extent of the damage until my husband drove through the area the next day. He came home to say, "You are just lucky that you and that little red car aren't stuck in a treetop."

I went back with him to survey the destruction. Where the darkness had surrounded me, the house on the left side of the road was minus a back porch. On the right side of the road, a path of trees for about 50 yards, were plastered to the ground.

All I could say was "God LOVES me! He loves ME!" Because for this to happen the way it did, the tornado must have struck the corner of that house, lifted up over my car, then came back down and ripped those trees up by the roots.

No doubt, God spared my life that day. Every time I pass the spot, I get the warm fuzzies because I can feel His love. So do you think that song, "The Master of the Wind" is connected in some way to this incident? I'll let YOU decide.

Below are the words to the chorus. If you haven't heard the song, you really should. It's beautiful. I never did sing it to the congregation, but I still have the tape, folks...to remind me how much God loves ME. He loves YOU that much, too.

I know the Master of the wind.
I know the Maker of the rain.
He can calm the storm
And make the sun shine again.
I know the Master of the wind.