This week I’ve been reading Sue Monk Kidd, probably because the movie version of Secret Life of Bees is out, but also partly because my memoir-reading friend pulled Kidd’s books out of her bag the other day and told me to read them. I’m surprised I hadn’t done so yet.
When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Directions for Life’s Sacred Questions is a religious memoir. Doh, couldn’t you tell? Amazon.com writes, “Blending her own experiences with an intimate grasp of contemplative spirituality, Sue Monk Kidd relates the passionate and moving tale of her spiritual crisis at midlife, when life seemed to have lost meaning and how her longing for hasty escape from the pain yielded to a discipline of ‘active waiting.’ Comparing her experience to the formative processes inside a chrysalis on a wintry tree branch, Kidd reflects on the fact that the soul is often symbolized as a butterfly. The simple cocoon, a living parable of waiting, becomes an icon of hope for the transformation that the author sought. Kidd charts her re–ascent from the depths and offers a new understanding of the passage away from the self, which is based upon others’ expectations, to the true self of God’s unfolding intention. Her wise, inspiring book helps those in doubt and crisis recognize the opportunity to ‘dismantle old masks and patterns and unfold a deeper, more authentic self.’
Another one of Kidd’s memoirs, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine is not something I’d pick up in a bookstore on my own volition. Publisher’s Weekly writes, “The author’s journey to capture her feminine soul and to live authentically from that soul makes a fascinating, well-researched and well-written story. Kidd’s successful pilgrimage from her Southern Baptist roots and away from the patriarchal and fundamentalist Christian religious systems surrounding her is an account of anger turned to courage, creativity and love. A mid-career realization that she had lived without ‘real inner authority’ and with ‘a fear of dissension, confrontation, backlash, a fear of not pleasing, not living up to sanctioned models of femininity’ produced in Kidd the new mindset that made her journey possible. Additionally, her extensive knowledge of many subjects, including theology, mythology and the arts, made possible the copious references and cross-references that will prove invaluable for readers who wish to follow her in this same search. While Kidd cautions that each woman’s path will be unique, there is no question but that many women will find in her book a mirror of their own present conditions and a hopeful call to self-discovery.”
Coming from a similar religious (long-time ago Baptist) background, I’ve been extremely wary of books such as this, but this time I found myself drawn to the prose and to embracing another view of reality that I would so quickly pass by. I may not always agree with that view (and I don’t always agree here), because I’ve already been a “seeker” and I have found the answers I needed (book of Romans), but I can respect Kidd’s seeking and I can come away with a renewed appreciation for a loving God that yearns to speak to each of us in the specific way we might hear. God is big enough for many ways of sanctification because of His justification.
Have a great weekend!
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