At some point this summer (August, maybe?) I began to swim laps. We have an ancient, massive inground pool that is perfect for long laps. The size of the pool results in cool water even on the hottest day. One day, I truly don’t know what possessed me, I dove in and just started swimming back and forth. During the hot days of the summer the cool water was a welcome reprieve. But then the nights turn cool at the end of August as they do in Upstate NY and with it the water took a turn. How cold is too cold? I wondered.
Well here we are in October and I am still swimming.
Even with the bouts of unusually warm weather the water in our pool is hovering around 64 degrees. I am no longer diving in because the shock of the cold is too much but, even still, the laps continue. I had taken a few days off so when I approached the water this week there was a fresh reminder of just how cold the water was. I dipped a toe in and it was freezing. Yet the laps were waiting for me.
“Well”, I said to myself, “I guess I will do it frozen.”
This may seem like a long-winded way of getting to the actual point of this post which is, I have been frozen for awhile. The numbers of essays I have written in my head yet not committed to words on paper/screen is shocking. I am doing the work, but not. And in the midst of that, somehow, miraculously, I wrote another a book. Yet no one knows. Because I am frozen.
The other day a friend asked how my writing work was going and my answer was that I have realized it is time to do the next part of writing work, that is the sharing of said work, but I was frozen. And as I shared with her it occurred to me I was no longer willing to wait for the thaw before I got going.
One of the lessons I have learned from my season of cold laps in the pool is the only way to feel better is to get moving. Some days it only takes one or two laps for my body to warm up, some days it takes six, but it always happens.
So this is me showing up frozen because this work that was done over the last two years of research and six months of grueling writing and editing, is good. I cannot get over the gift it is to know that in my bones. It is good.
Peace in the Dark is a book about waiting in the unexpected places and doing so with honesty and faith. Honesty about how hard it is to be in the “not yet” and faith that peace and even goodness can be found in those places.
The backdrop for Peace in the Dark is my beloved lake, Paradox, and all the beauty that surrounds it. I am so excited to share the book and that place with all of you.
Peace in the Dark releases Jan 30th. As we know pre-orders are important to the sales of books so any pre-order placed is so deeply appreciated.
As I step back into the public side of writing I am looking forward to more opportunities to interact with readers, to wrestle with big questions together and to share in dialogue. I love Substack, not just for its ease and beauty but for it’s determined focus on writing and ideas. So expect most of my focus to be in this corner of the internet.
As a side note I am finding myself in the last stretch of a heavy teaching season and would love to have you come along for any of it. I am hosting an online workshop on hospitality and community fro Women Walking With God this Saturday that is free and available to all. (here is the link) I am also leading a women’s retreat at Camp Pinnacle here in beautiful Upstate NY Oct 20-22 (all details found here)
Even writing this brief update has caused me to feel a stirring. Warmth is coming. May there be peace found as we wait.