Twenty-six Letters ~
In that twilight state of sleep, I had a dream that felt more like having a thought with imagery ~
You’ve had them. They usually take place as we're dozing off-- almost a perfect picture of things that are on our mind mixed with fantasy.
In this dream the capitalized alphabet slid across the dark screen of my closed eyes. The letters were all the same font size, but came in a variety of colors. They were in no particular order and even though the string of letters began forming line after line on the blank page, not one word was spelling out. As the dream continued, more and more letters joined the string across the dark screen, filling in each blank space.
ADGZQXPYLBRW . . .
Some of the letters began forming a spiral funnel, like a slow moving dust devil, but then they too took their place in line.
Finally a thought entered my dream:
Every piece of work you’ve ever read has been created using those same twenty-six letters.
In that instant I knew that regardless of what language the story may have originally been written in, when I read it, when I enjoyed and learned from a written work, it was written using the same twenty-six letters.
It suddenly became eerie that tens of thousands of stories have been and are being told using the same twenty-six letters. I had known that, and yet inside that dream the depth of it awed me.
The dream seemed to shift its point. Without seeing anything except letters I became aware of thousands and thousands of hurting people who didn’t believe in themselves or their ability to rise above what had been dished out to them during their journey on this planet.
But I realized the miracle of the power and flexibility and exponential potential of those twenty-six letters inside each person’s life. The most amazing part about the twenty-six letters was the understanding that we all have those twenty-six letters inside of us. Those letters are the building blocks that can form words and understanding that lead us to find healing, hope, and forgiveness.
You’ve had them. They usually take place as we're dozing off-- almost a perfect picture of things that are on our mind mixed with fantasy.
In this dream the capitalized alphabet slid across the dark screen of my closed eyes. The letters were all the same font size, but came in a variety of colors. They were in no particular order and even though the string of letters began forming line after line on the blank page, not one word was spelling out. As the dream continued, more and more letters joined the string across the dark screen, filling in each blank space.
ADGZQXPYLBRW . . .
Some of the letters began forming a spiral funnel, like a slow moving dust devil, but then they too took their place in line.
Finally a thought entered my dream:
Every piece of work you’ve ever read has been created using those same twenty-six letters.
In that instant I knew that regardless of what language the story may have originally been written in, when I read it, when I enjoyed and learned from a written work, it was written using the same twenty-six letters.
It suddenly became eerie that tens of thousands of stories have been and are being told using the same twenty-six letters. I had known that, and yet inside that dream the depth of it awed me.
The dream seemed to shift its point. Without seeing anything except letters I became aware of thousands and thousands of hurting people who didn’t believe in themselves or their ability to rise above what had been dished out to them during their journey on this planet.
But I realized the miracle of the power and flexibility and exponential potential of those twenty-six letters inside each person’s life. The most amazing part about the twenty-six letters was the understanding that we all have those twenty-six letters inside of us. Those letters are the building blocks that can form words and understanding that lead us to find healing, hope, and forgiveness.
9 Comments:
At 8:24 AM, Laura G. Young said…
Hello there --
I just randomly came across your blog and this really spoke to me, because just the other day I was reflecting on how certain religious groups place certain restrictions on art, but not on letters -- when in fact most letters began as heiroglyphic pictures themselves(i.e, the letter "A" was originally an ox).
Thanks for sharing this,
Laura
At 11:18 AM, Elaina M. Avalos said…
Thank you for this, Cindy!
At 11:24 AM, Amy Wallace said…
Awesome post, Cindy. We do all use the same 26 letters, don't we? And I loved the thought about the exponential potential of all those letters inside each person's life.
Amy
At 12:17 PM, Cindy Woodsmall said…
Hello!
Wow, comments--nice ones. I love it! Thank you:-o)
I so appreciated Laura dropping by and sharing her thoughts with us.
Elaina! A very special thanks ;-)
Amy, I have ideas. Will e-mail privately.
Peace ~
CW
At 5:30 PM, AngBreidenbach said…
Wow Cindy! This is very inspirational (as was your email on writing at your own pace on the ACFW link. Both were profound to me. I've just finished my first book, just started my own blog in November, and just gotten my website up. I feel very accomplished. But, I didn't do it at all when I expected to. All were done later than my internal goal. Not because I was delaying, but because that's when everything came together. The help I needed, the class I needed, and the combination of creating a new schedule. I really enjoyed both posts. Thank you. (And, I got your name right this time unlike the airport in Dallas!) lol.
Angie
At 7:36 PM, Meg said…
I loved this, Cindy, and I appreciate your perspective on using those 26 letters to change people's lives. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I also posted something about those 26 letters, last year. It's at http://megawriter.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html. Scroll down to Aug. 12, "Good magic," if you'd like to read it. Great minds think alike...sort of! :)
At 7:38 PM, Meg said…
Oops, that link was supposed to end in "html." Techno-klutz strikes again.
At 6:52 AM, Anonymous said…
love your thoughts. Just finished
When the Heart Cries... awesome, but
it's too stinking long to wait for
Book 2! I'm hooked and baited for
9/2007!
fan in North Carolina
At 3:05 PM, Cindy Woodsmall said…
Hi, Angela!
Thank you, ma'am. The loop can be a lot of fun, no?
Hey, Meg, I checked it out. You're right; great minds think alike . . . so do empty minds. Yikes.
Hi, Anonymous!
I'm really glad you enjoyed the book and I'm really sorry September is so stinking far away. :-)!
But if you knew things I can't tell you, you'd pay me to take the extra time and figure out how to make all the lives converge into one interesting story. Hahahaha:-o)
I loved getting this note!
God's peace,
CW
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