Tag: fiction

A Novel for Lent

“We tend to associate this time of year with devotionals or books for study,” I wrote recently in Christian Theological Seminary’s CTS Connections newsletter. It was a piece reflecting on my recent novel, Kat’s Dreams. I continued: “In the case of Kat’s Dreams, though, I chose to set this story during Lent – and I envision it as a Lenten story – because it has to do with repentance. The fact that abuses of power do sometimes happen in our congregations is a structural sin that Christians are still coming to terms with. Much like the characters in this story, I think individuals as well as communities are still learning how to constructively and faithfully ‘turn’ from these experiences . . .

I imagine this novel speaking to anyone who’s had a love-hate relationship with The Church or a church. The main character, Kat, refuses to set foot in any church, and her story gives us glimpses into why. She’s only just beginning to practice trusting again after an experience of betrayal. It doesn’t take a situation like hers to resonate with a healing journey like the one she’s on.”  

Excerpted from my reflections in “CTS Alum Writes Novel for Lent” in the March issue of CTS Connections. Click here to read the rest of the article.

The Beauty of Rest: Contemplative Essays (Clay Patin Press, 2023) is available as a free Kindle ebook today (3/8/23 Pacific Time) only.*

Befriending the Unknown (Kat’s Dreams)

What if we saw the unknowns of life not as things to worry about but as spaces full of promise?

Author Callie J. Smith discusses facing unknowns, what she’s giving up for Lent, and her new novel Kat’s Dreams (free as Kindle ebook Feb. 21-22, 2023 only)

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Video Transcript:

“Befriending the Unknown” 

This year for Lent I’m working on giving up my fear of the unknown, which is hard because I’m such a planner. I like to think five steps ahead, but given all the unknowns in life, giving up that fear is valuable. It’s valuable, and it’s one of those efforts that will take me way longer than the 40 days of Lent, which is sort of the point. In the Bible, the number 40 represented a lot. Forty days or 40 years represented a long time. 

That’s one reason I set my novel Kat’s Dreams during the season of Lent. The main character Kat is trying to put some things behind her. She’s been trying to do that for a couple of years, and she’s still struggling with it, which is okay. Some of the most important things take time, and the thing about those kinds of journeys is that they aren’t primarily about that bad thing we’re wrestling with. The bad thing is real. Sin is real. The character Kat faced an experience of sexual harassment that was very real, and as she figures out what to do with that, she’s not sure what any of her options will mean for the future. But those unknowns and that sin aren’t the most important parts of the story. The most important parts are God, and hope, and living with hope in what God is doing even when we can’t see it. 

That’s the challenge: to befriend the unknown and assume that God is making a way forward, a way of blessing, even if we can’t see more than a step ahead. It goes back to my Lenten challenge. I want to assume the unknown spaces in life are full of promise and not things I need to worry about. I want to look at the unknown and see promise. What about you? What do you see when you look at the unknowns?

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The Miracle of Dust (Kat’s Dreams)

Sometimes it’s from the dust and ashes that God brings blessing and even new life.

Author Callie J. Smith discusses Kat’s Dreams, its setting during the season of Lent, and what God does with dust. Also, get your FREE copy of Kat’s Dreams in Kindle format (for a limited time only).

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Video Transcript:

“The Miracle of Dust” 

 “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” – it’s an Ash Wednesday refrain, but I still find it curious to think about. Dust is a sign of mortality. We often don’t like to remember our mortality, but there are moments in life that take away our ability to ignore what we often ignore. 

I was working with that idea when I wrote the novel Kat’s Dreams. It’s about some of those impactful moments that show us more than we’ve seen before. The main character Kat has recently met a man named Paul whom she can’t stop thinking about, and that’s an exciting moment of life for her. However, they both have some other impactful moments – moments of mortality, and limitation, and failure – that they need to work through before their relationship can deepen. I think that what emerges for them in the middle of that difficult work is part of the beauty of their story. Kat’s discovering anew the people in her life who are supporting and encouraging her, and Paul even has her suspecting that she sees blessing every which way she looks.

It’s like in the book of Genesis where God promises Jacob: “your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, . . . and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring” (Gen 28:14). God does this amazing thing of turning something like dust into an image of blessing, an image of abundant blessing. But God does amazing things with dust. God forms humanity from the dust of the ground, creating promise, hope, love, and joy, and even now God breathes the breath of life into the dust of our days.

In the approach of Lent this year, I’m hoping to find in the dust a reminder of the miraculous things that God does. What about you? What are you hoping to remember?

(Adapted from Smith’s essay “What God Does with Dust,” originally published in the February 28, 2022, issue of Bearings Online.)

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