The Idlewood Archives

Dear  kindreds….

This is a post that is to consist entirely of the musings and collective thoughts that followed the discovery and diving into of a book I happened upon without trying to…. And that has been ceaselessly encouraging me ever since. I’ve lost count of the times I have opened it in tears, and found comfort…. Or opened it with question holes in my heart that were unexpectedly and perfectly filled, and found my eyes filled with another kind of tears. 

That kind of a book. 

Your eyes widen at this, and a not-sure-what-to-make-of-this light enters your questioning gaze. 

Finally you ask it. The question begging to be posed.

What is this book, that it has had such leverage, you ask in polite curiosity. It really wants to be slightly more, but it stuck to that. 

It is a book of poetry, I reply. Eloquence is my strong point, as you can well see. And sarcasm, appropriately wielded and in the hands of an expert, is an art. 

But curiosity gets the better of you. 

“Well, who by then? Wordsworth? Longfellow? Maybe Robert Service? You’re northern, after all, that would make sense. All except the tears part. Was it written on the subject of the Yukon Trail, perhaps? “

“No?”

“Well, then what is it? Modern? Historical? Antiquated? Something newly released and that is why you discovered it!”

Nope. No to all of the above. It comes with an unassuming cover, clearly from another era, yet not so old as to collectible. It is not the kind to catch your eye on the shelf, and a sweetly old fashioned and very demure watercolour graces the front.

Yet the title says it all. Heart Gifts, by Helen Steiner Rice.

You have struck gold. Anything sound familiar about that title? (Always keeping in mind that the discovery of it took place at the very least several weeks after the original HeartSong Moment was written up and posted, maybe more.)

Hidden among dozens of bright and bold covers…. Yet I found it. Or maybe…. I am rather inclined to think it was put there for me to find. I knew the moment I pulled it out that it was coming home with me, and…. It has been a Godsend. That is the long and short and yes, too the the sweetness of it.

As if the thoughts of your heart lay spread out on the page before you, a page you would never have found by yourself…. When you needed to know the Master heard and saw and loved…. Even when you could hardly find the words to pray, and your thoughts stubbornly clung to everything but what truly needed to be thought and asked…

And a gentle, quiet leading brought you to where you needed to be anyway. To see. To hear, to know…. To be refilled and strengthened for the road ahead.

It has blessed me…. Far beyond what I expected when I took it off the shelf. And now…. I cannot but share it, on the grounds that mayhap ye shall find it to be exactly what you need as well🙃

May your days be filled with His Light….

Yours, counting her blessings….

~Emi

Ps. This went up fast-ish, and now it wants to start sprouting all over on me…. So I reserve the right to edit and add on this one😜🤪 Like lots, maybe. Just a heads up (;