A vision of words by Annmarie Miles

 I write this sitting in view of a very ‘full’ apple tree. There must be at least a hundred apples, probably a lot more. It’s been the vista from our little self-catering bolt hole all week and every time I look at it, it reminds me of a vision someone had while praying for me many years ago. 

The vision was of a large pot, simmering on a fire. More like a cauldron than a saucepan. In it was what looked like spaghetti, but as the person lifted out a strand, it was a strand of words. A sentence or title. My friend who was praying said she lifted another and another, they were all different and each one represented a song. I used to write songs as a teenager and in my early Christian days. When the songs stopped coming, I thought maybe the vision was wrong, or meant something else. Then years later, I started writing short stories. They poured out of me as if they were just sitting, waiting to be told. I remembered the vision. The pot of words. Maybe they weren’t all songs.

So all week I’ve been looking at this tree, wondering why it reminds me of the pot of words.

One of the perks of staying here is the offer of some meals being made by the hosts for an extra nominal charge. We treated ourselves to pork and apple casserole with veg and new potatoes and apple crumble for afters. As I polished off the delicious crumble, I realised the apples probably came from that very tree. Each apple on that tree has the potential to be part of a fabulous meal. And it’s almost harvest time. Soon all those apples will be part of something.  

I’m coming out of a time of fragile emotional and mental health and I have a desire to write again; and read again. Both were very hard to do for months. But it feels like the pot is simmering again and words are (to stretch the analogy a little…) stirring. I’m so grateful to God for  reminding me of that vision. The timing of the reminder is perfect and gives me confidence to continue. 

 

Annmarie Miles is from Dublin, Ireland.
She lives with her husband Richard who is a pastor in the Eastern Valley of Gwent, in South Wales. She writes short stories, magazine articles, devotional pieces for Christian radio, and blogs about her faith at www.auntyamo.com Her first collection of short stories published in 2013, is called 'The Long & The Short of it'. Her second collection, 'A Sense of the Sea and other stories,' was published in 2018 and in December 2019 she published her first novel, Gorse Lodge. She is currently editing a non-fiction book about being an overweight Christian called, 'Have mercy on me O Lord, a slimmer.'