Communication, at its Best and Worst

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Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey

“People like me write because otherwise we are pretty inarticulate. Our articulation is our writing.”William Trevor, an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer.

“We still need a voice that thinks before it speaks.” Simon Armitage, a British poet, playwright and novelist

Speech, for me, can fall far short of pleasing communication. When I take the time to write these essays, I might edit one for the umpteenth time, hours later. Looking back, something, suddenly, looks inarticulate, lacking clarity.

I have phrases that erupt when I speak, that have no context, that come from left field (or perhaps that’s right field), that elicit blank stares. On the other hand, those blank stares are what make speech, potentially, more effective than well edited writing. We have from the living, grunts, stares, raised eyebrows, but, SOMETIMES, smiles.

Who said it would be easy?

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Prayer

“How do people like me who believe entirely in science and reason also believe that prayer can heal and restore? Well, I’ve seen it happen a thousand times in my own inconsequential life.” “It helps me to not fixate on who I am, but on whose I am God’s adorable, aging, self-centered, spaced-out beloved.” At times, amongst the most serious and at times, amongst the funniest writers on the planet, Anne Lamott.

What an extraordinary privilege, the right anytime, anywhere to speak to the one and only God, the being who created matter to include, DNA and the human mind. It is an enriching state of mind that can heal those who pray and those for whom they pray.

I think it’s likely you have a trusted friend who completely turned his or her life around when he or she was born again, a state that included healing changes. Anne Lamott has many and would assure you prayer was central to their transformation, particularly those seeking recovery from addiction.

Hallelujah.