I will be publishing my book Order of the PenTriagon September 20, 2021. Why that date, you ask? It’s a minor point in the book that the protagonist, Talat, reads the marginalia in an old pawnshop Bible on the Psalm 127 page, in which the anonymous inscriber states that God has built her house and answered her prayers as of September 20. So I thought I would go with that date. There is no magic to it. I imagine I used it because that was the day I was writing that section of book; in fact, I added the year date as 2020…I no doubt wrote the section in 2019, looking forward to 2020. How strange that in September of 2020 I was sitting on my completed book, writing another one, and editing others’ books. I was also tutoring and homeschooling. I was doing everything but looking at a completed house of answered prayers (regarding my writing career — there was no doubt that God pulled me out of the Covid poverty when my bank account had finally hit empty).
On the other hand, life is never a completed house until we die. God doesn’t stop answering our prayers, either. Life is a process of building, and God is not a genie in the sky; he’s our heavenly Father whom we should have an active relationship with. If we don’t and call ourselves Christians, there is something broken in our relationship. We could be the prodigal son wandering in far-off lands, but if we are God’s children, we will always wander back to his house. In fact, he will leave his house and come fetch us back if we’re too lost to come on our own. That was the message Christ gave us — that he as the Good Shepherd would rescue us. I believe that. There are people who reject their rescuer, but that doesn’t mean that the shepherd won’t offer us a lifeline or a trip out of the canyon in his arms.
I was only going to write about my publishing date and post a blurb, but this post went it’s own way. Instead, I’ll post my blurb in the next few days and add Psalm 127 to this one. It’s long been one of my favorite Psalms, which is unsurprising, as it was written by Solomon, the biblical author who most resonates with me.
This is from the RSV:
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
127 Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
3 Lo, sons are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man who has
his quiver full of them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Jill Domschot 