Monday, February 5, 2018
Welcome to my Monday Blog, my friends! Once again, I thank you for allowing me both the opportunity to share some of my heartfelt memories of my childhood through my spiritual novel, That Melvin Bray, and also whatever’s on my mind on any particular Monday. Thank You, Thank You!!
When my novel was first published, every week I blogged excerpts from each chapter (30) until we had covered all thirty chapters. I thought I’d been to hell and back the four years it took me to finish the book and get it published. Oh, but that was just the beginning, believe me!
Once the book was published, a book signing tour began. This is really awesome for many reasons, but there is a potential downside to it as well…certainly in my case. A book-signing tour allows the author to relive the book over and over and over again…and over! This can be great as well as…well, the word scary comes to mind right now. Yes, scary; however, the word cathartic works also. Yep, these are the two adjectives I use now to describe what four years of my life turned into once it was all out, on paper, in black and white.
I love that word… cathartic…
cathartic -(adj.) – emotionally purging or purifying, cleansing; psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions.
This is precisely what happened to me and I highly recommend both scary and cathartic, for in my case, once I’d faced the fear attached to the scary part, the cathartic part kicked in. Trust me, you have no idea how freeing that fours years proved to be for me. It was like a mountain of water wildly rushing over an inpentratable dam. Scary! The deeper I reached inside myself, forcing myself to relive the past, the scarier it got and before I knew it, I was at the point of no return. I just had to face my fears, once and for all, and literally relive my hauntingly sad and confused past.
I’m sharing this today because I enjoy feeling good about myself…who doesn’t, right? It’s very freeing and liberating to pick up my book now and read over certain chapters with a smile on my face, as opposed to a sad and tearful emotion embracing my whole body. I call this “Living Good.”
I’m not suggesting one must write a book to be free of deep seated grief or emotions buried deep inside one’s heart; however, I do believe acknowledging such, and releasing it once and for all is very powerful and gratifying to the soul. And in doing so, we allow God to work His miracles in our lives. Amen!
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“That Melvin Bray” – Chapter 29 – I Love You The Most – Excerpt
“We arrived at the property and took the long road up to the house, passing the old well on our right. It looked so different. Todd parked under the even older and more mature pear trees in the side yard-the same old pear trees that Mother had walked under each night at about eleven fifteen, when her ride would drop her off from work. As we got out of the car, I could feel her presence, and for a moment, I noticed a wonderfully familiar, powdery fragrance floating around my head.
As we walked down to the well on that old driveway, I realized something was different. I looked down and noticed the road had been paved all the way from the main road up to the house. Oh my, how nice. Then another thought occurred to me: if that road had been paved back then, the old Chevy wouldn’t have gotten stuck in the mud, I wouldn’t have seen what I saw, and none of us would have been there that day, looking for That Melvin Bray!”
“Back at Lizzy’s car, which was still parked by the old pear trees, I got behind the steering wheel, and for once, Lizzy accepted her role as passenger. She was drained, and I knew it. I put the key in the ignition, started the car, and turned on the headlights. As I was backing up with my head turned around so as not to run into a ditch, Lizzy was looking forward. She asked me what was in the pear tree. I hit the brakes and turned back around to look up at the old trees. Sure enough, there was something faintly reflecting light in the middle tree..
I put the car in Park, left the motor running, got out of the car, and walked over to the old three-tree pear orchard. I saw a single pear dangling through the scraggly old limbs and realized the headlights from the car were making it appear as though it was glowing – at least that’s what I thought. However, as I reached for the pear, I realized it was illuminated by its own power. It was a huge ripe pear – one huge, ripe pear. It was hanging low on a leafless branch of an otherwise fruitless tree – in late Fall. Further, I knew those old pear trees had stopped bearing fruit many years ago.
I carefully plucked the pear from the branch and walked back to the car and showed it to Lizzy. I could tell that the reflection of light was actually a soft halo hugging what was obviously a divine specimen of fruit. Lizzy didn’t say anything. The fruit was still glowing as she took it from me and looked back up at the pear trees. Other than the illuminated halo from the pear and a soft-shadowed moon, the only light in the otherwise pitch-dark grassy knoll was coming from my headlights. Lizzy looked at the pear and then pressed it to her face and smelled it. “Maggie, I believe it’s the dears again – your dear mother, my dear mother and dear Bubbee.”
With both hands, she lifted the giant, juicy pear up to her mouth and took a huge bite of it. “Here Maggs, take a bite, it’s delicious?” She handed the pear back to me and I took a big, juicy bite too. It was delicious!
Instantly, we both looked up at the old pear trees, and this time, the moon shown so brightly that we could make out all three trees. We each savored our keen awareness of the Holy spirit all around us through a mouthful of that juicy pear.
It was obvious to us that this unusual pear was a gift from our mothers and Grandma Bubbee. It all seemed so natural, but actually, it was more than that – the five of us had all just enjoyed a celestial moment together. They knew our hearts were heavy and wanted us to know we were not alone on this heavenly mission.”
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My prayer for all of us today is that we will search our souls for any unresolved issues in our own pasts and willingly pursue inner peace, resolution and ultimately forgiveness, because our heavenly Father cannot help us if we refuse His help, love and guidance…WE NEED HIM – “fear not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” – Isaiah 41:10 (so sayeth the Lord).
GOD is Good! GOD is Great!! Always!!!
I love you,
Margaret
I invite you to check out my novel, a spiritual thriller, “That Melvin Bray” on Amazon:
Author Margaret McBride 