In 2015 I read the book Quiet by Susan Cain. It includes this passage about the music journalist David Weiss. 

"David still remembers acutely what it was like to be his nine-year-old self. 'I feel like I'm in touch with that person today,' he says. 'Whenever I'm doing something that I think is cool, ... I send a message back to that person and let him know that everything turned out OK. I feel like when I was nine, I was receiving that signal from the future, which is one of the things that gave me the strength to hang in there.'"

It struck a chord within me, simultaneously vibrating strings connected to my experiences in prayer and pastoral ministry. I began thinking more about little awakenings, incidents that sustain us through troubled times. Have we received all they offer us, or just enough to survive the immediate struggle? Have we perhaps completely overlooked other iotas of grace? If they do have more to offer us, is there a way to retrieve their gifts months or years afterward? And perhaps most importantly, are these small moments actually encounters with the divine? Would it change our experience of them to view them that way?

I tried to come up with a coherent presentation of my jumbled thoughts but it never quite coalesced. Last year, with plenty of free time due to the Covid solitude, I finally managed to weave together some of the strands in this brief booklet — "Intentional Wonder: Searching for Heaven’s Treasure in Moments of Quiet Joy." In it I invite you to explore these questions with me and to engage in a practice of prayer, a spiritual experiment.

This link allows you to read or download a PDF version of the booklet. I will probably also print paper copies for those who want one. If you would like to have a paper copy, send me an email at bookworm@texashemphills.com, including your mailing address. For now I will offer them free. 

Thanks for your interest, and I hope you like it!

Barbara Hemphill

Who dares despise the day of small things? -- Zechariah 4:10