Their Eyes Were Watching God

Image via Wikipedia"According to her autobiography, Zora Neale Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God in seven weeks while she was conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Haiti and recovering from a failed romance. The circumstances were hardly promising, but the novel, published in September 1937, almost exactly a year after she arrived in Port-au-Prince, is her masterpiece. While it presents diverse oral performances-personal narratives, folktales, courtship rituals, speeches, and sermons-the folk material fuses seamlessly with a formal narrative that charts a woman's coming to voice and to selfhood. The protagonist, Janie Crawford, begins a quest for romance but achieves spiritual fulfillment." (by Cheryl A. Wall, see her full article here.)

Sometimes I stumble upon a book or or an article that has been so obviously put in my path by my Father in Heaven. See lately, I have been hoping and praying to experience (with understanding) the truth of :
"God, my Shepherd! I don't need a thing. Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life." Parts of Psalm 23 (The Message version)

A Psalm my friend Bob encouraged me to meditate on. Some days, I get a glimpse of Him, and other days my eyes are so glazed over from staring at my circumstances and my computer screen that I don't notice much of anything!

I am only 7 chapters into this delightful novel, however, it is speaking to my soul and has captured my imagination! One particular line at the end of the third chapter, has been crowding my thoughts for a few days ... "She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a brand new one by sun-up." This one line is rich with symbolism and possibilities. It has so struck me -- that it has led me to pray and ask questions about this beautiful and absurd idea. Consider it and share with me please ... what does this line make you wonder?

As I read, I laugh and shake my head! Janie Crawford and I have much more in common than just our quest for romance ... look for more on that to come soon!