Be Careful What You Pray For. Someone Is Listening
Now we’re refinishing all our floors. We hired two men to take all the upstairs furniture down to the main floor. Then we went to Fort Bragg to greet my grandson returning from deployment. On the way home I started thinking about my book again. What was the problem? I prayed. I need help here. I can’t get away from the distractions. I can’t settle on anything. Do you want me to do this or not?
By the time we got home I had a scratchy throat and my eyes felt a bit feverish. By morning, when the sanding of the floors began, I had a full blown respiratory problem with fever. This means I can’t visit my mom at the nursing home. I thought I’ll use that time to write. The sanders gave me a headache and the elephant sat on my chest for two days. Then the staining and poly finishing began and I couldn’t breathe or talk at all. My eyes burned and watered from the fumes. It was cold and windy outside; I couldn’t escape. Buddy was snorting and pacing; the fumes were getting to him, too. What to do? It’s going to be several days before I get over this chest thing. I cancelled out of book club, cancelled a school visit, cancelled a dentist appointment. Buddy and I came to the lake house. I couldn’t get to my laptop, buried in the displaced items. I had to lug my big computer. But, Buddy had his tennis balls the movers found under the furniture!
I talked to God a lot on the three-hour trip. Yes, out loud. Buddy likes it when I do that; he thinks I’m talking to him and he smiles. I asked God to take away or add whatever it was He knew I needed to get started. I sure didn’t know what it was. This had never happened before and I was frustrated.
At the lake house, a large limb had fallen in the driveway and had taken down a power line which was coiled around it. Could it be I’d have no lights? I did have lights; I didn’t have a phone line. I hooked up my computer. The only thing live on my desktop was my new empty file: Avery’s Peace, Book 3, w/c 0. No phone. No facebook. No email. No research. No internet. Nobody needed me for anything.
I looked out the kitchen window and saw two things. The daffodils are blooming; the bluebirds are back. The air smells clean and fresh. I took an Advil, popped in a cough drop and sat down at my keyboard in total silence, Buddy snoozing on my feet. Before I knew it, a brand new novel was materializing.
I would never have prayed to get sick, fill my house with fumes, drive three hours to breathe, and not have internet service for two days. But that was the answer to my prayer. That’s what needed to happen and in that order. Everything looks brighter when the daffodils are blooming and the first draft is underway. Thank you, God and dog. You were both listening and smiling.