Living Words

I've always been enchanted
By the art of storytelling.
My mother, the writer,
Read to me from a young age.
I would sit, enraptured,
While she read to me
From the Golden Books,
Grimm's Fairy Tales,
And the Disney Tales.
I would envision the scenes in my head,
And be transported into the story.

I've always been guilty of having
An over-active imagination.
Bursting loose at the seams,
I started writing when I was 8,
And haven't stopped since.
I discovered that there was power in words,
And I would construct
The worlds and adventures
I saw in my mind.

Now...
When I read Scripture,
The words are becoming
Alive to me,
Leaping off the pages
And dancing before my mind's eye.
At Sunday service,
When the Pastor reads the Bible passages,
I no longer read with the congregation.
Instead,
I sit
And close my eyes
And listen
Like I did when I was 3 or 4,
And in my mind's eye, I see...

Elijah carried to Heaven in the fiery chariot
Before Elisha's astonished eyes...
Samuel, hearing God's voice,
Mistakenly running to Eli's bedside,
Declaring, "Here I am"...
Adam standing in the Garden,
Fulfilling God's order to name the animals...
Jesus on the mountaintop,
Conversing with Moses and Elijah
While all his stupefied friends can utter is,
"Let's make a tent!"...

The Bible's words
Are coming alive,
Imprinting themselves
Upon me.
I dream about them at night.
I think about them during the day,
And compare them to my everyday life.

Father...
Is this supposed to happen?
Is this one of the ways
The Word becomes alive to us?

I didn't think it was possible
To feel the awe and wonder
I used to experience as a child.

How wonderful to learn
How wrong I can be!...