Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Divine Intervention

At first, I was convinced my house had become a vortex of evil.

Items of sacred nature disappear for no reason at all. In the past year, my husband has lost two Bibles. And I'm not talking about small pocket Missals. I'm talking about large Old Testament/New Testament books with the diocanonicals included.

I'd become so afraid of losing my own Bible that I took it to work and hid it in my desk drawer. (OK, when you're also a religion reporter for a newspaper, it's helpful to have it handy, too.) Since the lost Bibles belonged to my husband, the disappearances didn't really have any impact on me until last weekend.

I sat down to rewrite a funeral scene in my WIP. Unfortunately, without a Bible, I had no way to accurately find poignant verses for the graveside scene.

I began searching, turning the house upside down. I looked under beds, in the attic, in the basement, on the bookshelf. I even called my Mom and had her read to me Ecclesiastes 3: 1-15. (The appointed time for everything.)

At first, I thought it would fit for the scene.

But after I wrote it, I wasn't happy.

I resumed my search, but after nearly an hour, I'd resigned myself to the fact that the Bibles were gone. Sitting at my desk, musing pensively over what my next move should be, I spied on my bookshelf a large book bearing the name "Catechism of the Catholic Church."

Believe me folks. I've delved into this particular work before, but it's not the most riveting piece of literature. But since my character -- an agnostic -- was attending the funeral of a Catholic, I decided it might be worth a shot to look up "funerals" in the Catechism book.

Lo' and Behold, I found the perfect phrase I needed for my Catholic graveside. Unfortunately, I can't write what it is because it gives away too much about the plot, but I think that shows just how perfect the quote from a certain saint is for this story.

So, if I happen to find my husband's Bibles lying around at home, I'll know for a fact that this was divine intervention. I mean, Lord knows I probably wouldn't have picked up the Catechism book if I'd had the Bible.

Have you had any divine interventions in your writing?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, does sound like a vortex of evil...missing Bibles. LOL.
Glad to see you back in the blogsphere. You were missed.

Oh, divine interventions...maybe not so much interventions...but inspirations...yes.

Heck, I don't know where half the stuff comes from when I start a story, so that's for sure one.

But especially when I'm stuck. Let go, Let God as they say in AA....it soooo works. :-) Seems like the story finishes itself after letting it go a little bit.

Hey, nice post today!

Rosslyn Elliott said...

Hey -

What about internet Bibles? You know you can find almost anything. I've used them many a time to get exact wording.

I do think it's cool when there is an obvious supernatural "assist" in daily life. I got one of those assists while writing my dissertation. It made me feel very loved.

KM Wilsher said...

Divine intervention indeed! What a post, Kat!

I've had some serious Divine intervention recently. I have truly termed them "spiritual experiences".

I use the internet bible too-or I'll google some of the verse I can't remember fully- it's amazing.

But I think you had some true intervening :)

I liked this!