When you ignore that little whisper . . .

. . . it finds a way to be heard.

Since returning home, I've made a list of projects, actions, calls, errands, obligations, etc. that I need to follow up on.  One of the little projects I've not been responding to is following up on the whisper that I need to write a series of Haiku poems based on the Book of James from the New Testament.  I have no idea why this particular whisper has been so insistent or even why James.  I haven't read much of James so perhaps I read a few verses in a daily devotional that made an impact and led me off in this direction.  St. James the Apostle is also associated with pilgrims and it can't be denied that this past year has been a sort of pilgrimage for me.   In any event, the whisper became very, very loud this morning, so much so, that it took matters into its own hands.

I left for Starbucks much later than usual this morning, getting out the door around 10 a.m.  I had my St.
Benedict novena booklet and current reading material ready to go.  I picked up my purse and headed out the door.  A few minutes later, I parked and reached for my book.  Great!  I had left it on the table at home.  Can you say "exasperated"?  Yeah, that was pretty much what I was feeling.

But then I looked inside my purse and there waiting for me was a small pocket edition of the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs.  You know the ones; the ones that the Gideons hand out in random public places and fair booths.  This one happened to be found in the church vestibule at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.  It would seem that the little whisper to write the haiku's was tired of waiting and had put itself front and center.

The rest of the morning was very fruitful.  There were nine haiku's waiting to emerge from the twilight dimness of my mind.  The number “nine” has a great symbolic richness. It is derived from the Trinitarian and Divine number “three” – being “three times three”.  “Nine” is also a number of imperfection because it is one lacking from “ten”.  The number nine is often linked to suffering hence, a novena cycle of prayer is commonly offer for nine days in anticipation of a response to a heart-felt petition.  So, it wasn't lost on me that just as novenas are typically associated with the number nine, I found nine haiku's waiting to come to the light.  Each has their own special intent.  I'll share them in my next post.