Tag: Lent

Inviting Our Demons in for Tea (Kat’s Dreams)

Sometimes it helps to spend time with the difficult things in our lives using a grace-filled lens and a lot of imagination about what God might actually be redeeming even now.

Author Callie J. Smith discusses her new novel Kat’s Dreams and its setting during the season of Lent.

learn more about kat’s dreams

Video Transcript:

“Inviting our Demons in for Tea”

There’s this story of an ancient monk who hears knocking on the door, and the monk opens the door and finds demons out there. I love the way the monk responds. The monk invites the demons inside for a cup of tea. 

I tend to think of demons as those parts of life that I wish didn’t exist, as those things that prevent the world from being what God surely made it to be. And to imagine inviting those things inside for a cup of tea is a bit of a stretch. It’s a stretch, and I think that’s probably the point. 

When I wrote the novel Kat’s Dreams, I wanted to tell the story of a woman who’s trying to put some of her own demons behind her. She’s recovering from something that all too many of us can resonate with. She’s been broadsided by a #MeToo experience, and she doesn’t know what to do with it, but she’s realizing that she can’t just push it away and ignore it. 

I set her story during the season of Lent because Lent is another way that Christian tradition has imagined people spending time with difficult things in light of redemption. Kat is letting her friends (and even a potential love interest) help her deal with memories that still have something to say to her. She’s letting God connect her with the people, and support, and love she needs in order to listen.

Maybe that’s something that a lot of us would like to let God do in our lives. Kat’s story is one of those stories that helps me picture what hope can look like. Sometimes, stories can help us look at life with a little more imagination about what God actually might be redeeming. 

So, that’s why I sometimes do ask myself: what is that demon, what is that thing, I’m needing to invite inside for a cup of tea and spend some time with right now? What about you? What thing could you imagine inviting to sit down for a cup of tea?

Kat’s Dreams Now Available

A few months ago, I shared some of my pain points as a spare-time writer of fiction (“On the Valuable Use of Time”). Now, I’m thrilled to finally announce that the first novel in my new Sacred Grounds series is available on Amazon*.

From the back cover of Kat’s Dreams

Kat’s Dreams: A Sacred Grounds Novel Book 1 follows Kat, a woman I think of as both a faithful and a feisty heroine. She’s facing some very difficult things, which make for a good story, but they also gives us a chance to find out who she is. One of the things I’ve enjoyed about writing Kat’s story is how it’s given me a chance to reflect on what faith means in some of the more painful moments of life. 

Kat is, after all, on a #MeToo kind of journey. Yet she also has this very stubborn streak of gladness inside of her. She insists on enjoying the world and the people around her, and she’s determined to find a good way forward. That’s one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed working with her as a character.

Many, many thanks for the support and encouragement to get to this moment of publishing my first novel. Kat’s Dreams is now available on Amazon,* and my website has additional resources for individual reflection and group discussion of the novel. I hope you’ll enjoy the read.

– Callie