Firstlight By Sue Monk Kidd

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While she is known for her recent best-sellers, The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, Sue Monk Kidd had a writing career years before she became a household name. These early works are compiled in a book just over 200 pages long titled Firstlight. In the introduction, Kidd admitted to hesitating when presented with the task of visiting her old work for re-publication. Her reluctance stemmed from the fact that she had grown, both personally and as a writer, since her years as a budding artist. However, she found that the finished product was a gift, one that she now shares with the public.

Perhaps the most striking sentence in the work can be found at the end of the first chapter: “All personal theology should begin with the words: Let me tell you a story.” Kidd does just that. Thirteen well-organized chapters contain vignettes covering a wide range of topics from simplicity to solitude. Allow me to share some of the stories through paraphrasing; it is the only way to do some justice to the experiences shared in this work.

One night while visiting a homeless shelter, the author came across a man named James who carried around a blue photo album. He kept asking others if they wanted to see it. No one did. When he asked Sue, “Would you like to see my book?” she couldn’t refuse. She sat down next to him on a tattered couch and opened the book. In it there were odds and ends: a napkin from a restaurant, a feather, a pocket calendar, and some autographs on the pages. These items would seem useless to most, but to James they were precious. Each item and signature held a memory he was grateful for. The blue photo album was James’ book of blessings that he made a point to remember and share with others. He asked Sue to sign his book, for she was his new friend.

While driving through the North Carolina mountains and off to accomplish another “important task,” Sue had to brake suddenly because the car in front of her had come to a complete stop. She was annoyed and wondered what the obstruction was. It turned out to be a turtle crossing the road at a painfully slow pace. At first, Sue was in a huff. But the more she waited, the more she began to enjoy her surroundings. She studied the movements of the turtle, then the trees, then the cool autumn air. In this moment, the author found beauty in stopping, in the ability to “drink life in”.

One day, Sue and her husband went to the local homeless shelter to help serve the noon meal. As they made their way in past the lunch line, she noticed a woman in a thin coat, ski cap, and one glove.
“I see you lost a glove,” Sue commented.
The woman’s reply was astonishing.
“No, I found a glove.”

A friend had a pile of newly mended clothes on her front seat. Sue glanced at them and noticed that the hemming was uneven and the thread used to sew on the buttons was mismatched. She asked who had done the poor repair work. Her friend replied that her eighty-year-old neighbor was the seamstress. Sue exclaimed that her friend could do a much better job than this.
“Oh probably so,” replied the friend. “But my neighbor needs to be needed far more than these clothes need to be perfect.”

A convenient aspect of this book is that it doesn’t need to be read in order. A reader can flip to any page and find a perfectly cohesive vignette. The length of these stories ranges from half a page to several pages long. This is a great read for someone who has five minutes or an entire afternoon to spare.

Firstlight is a delightful find. The tone is akin to that found in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, with the exception of the anecdotes being told from a single person’s perspective. It is filled with stories that inspire and provides nuggets of wisdom found through the observation of everyday life.