写“一串珍珠项链” The writing of ‘A Pearl Necklace’

写“一串珍珠项链” The writing of ‘A Pearl Necklace’

 

米雪这个名字是我一个要好的中国朋友给我起的笔名，我很喜欢它，因为它的意思是雪中的白米，表示冬天的吗哪。神如此恩待！让我在人生的冬天以我的故事来滋养中国的妇女。

The name MiXue was given to me by a dear Chinese friend when I was looking for a pen name.  I like it because it translates into English as Snow Rice, which conveys the image of Manna in Winter.  How gracious of God to allow me at this winter time of my life to use my story to nourish the women ofChina.

 

要我写一本回忆录，而不是神学方面的书，我的直觉是不可能，因为我不想当注目的焦点。但是，我知道一篇没有“肉”的讯息，就像钓鱼时用个空钩子，自知的鱼不会去咬的，那儿需要一条肥而多汁又会动的蚯蚓，原来他们是请我自愿来当那条蚯蚓，而这就像是道成肉身。

When asked to write a memoir instead of a more theological book, I instinctively recoiled because I didn’t want to draw so much attention to myself.  But I realized that a message without “meat” was like a bare hook dumped in the water.  No self-respecting fish would ever bite.  What is needed is a nice fat juicy wiggly worm, and I realized that I was being asked to volunteer to be that worm.  This is the way of incarnation.

 

            写“一串珍珠项链”我 用了多少时间？我实际写的时间是十一个月，但那确实是我用六十年的岁月活出来的。在一个偶然的机会第一次遇见我的出版商，我们隔邻而坐，我拿给他看当时我在写的一本书“逆转诅咒”的简介，他却竟然问我能不能用“逆转诅咒”的想法另写一本回忆录；不去解释什么是“逆转诅咒”，而是现身说法，让读者看我所活出来的。理论上，每个人应该都能在生活中示范他所相信的；但是把它写下来对我还真是个问题，因为我常写的是论说文而不是叙述文。

How long did it take to write ‘A Pearl Necklace’?  The actual writing took eleven months but it took over 60 years to live it out.  I first met my publisher at a conference where we sat next to each other quite by accident.  When I gave him a synopsis of a book that I was working on entitled, “Reversing The Curse,” he asked me if I could write a memoir instead that encapsulated the ideas of “Reversing The Curse,” showing how it works rather than explaining it.  Theoretically, everyone should be able to demonstrate in their own lives what they believe, but writing about it was another problem since I am more of a writer of essays than narrative.

 

之后不到两个星期，在一次长途飞行中，我祷告求问神，我该如何面对这个挑战？当我安静等候祂的时候，书名“一串珍珠项链”还有珍珠形成的主题竞浮在脑中，好像从天上掉下来的。就在我的飞机座位上，我赶快用手在纸条上写下了第一章的草稿。随后的几个月里，每当我遇到写作的瓶颈，我就祷告并安静等候，而每一次我都经历到那奇妙的吊诡，祂“在我里面工作，使我甘心，同时成全了祂美善的喜悦。”

Less than two weeks later when on a long flight, I prayed about this challenge and asked God how I could do this.  As I waited upon Him, the title “A Pearl Necklace” and the theme of pearl formation came to me as if it dropped from the sky, and I quickly scrawled by hand chapter one on a notepad as fast as I could from my airline seat.  In the ensuing months, whenever I came across a writing problem, I would pray and wait, and each time, I experienced the amazing paradox of His “work in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

 

当我就快要写完的时候，我觉得很笨，我竟然还不知道怎么处理那串珍珠项链！太不像我了— 通常我开始写的时候就已经很清楚结尾是什么。我祷告的时候，最后的图像显现了出来，我眼中也满了泪水，因为那比我能做的更好。就这样，我深知是祂大能的手从头带领直到末了，而且鼓励我要坚持走过将近三年的下个阶段。在美国的人常常兜售在中国被禁的书，而我发现要在中国审核通过一本书可真是难！

As I was coming to the very end of the book, I felt foolish that I had not figured out exactly what to do with the pearl necklace, which was so unlike me – I usually write with the end in mind from the beginning.  As I prayed, the final picture came to me and tears filled my eyes because it was better than what I am capable of.  In this way, I knew His good Hand from start to finish, and was encouraged to persevere through the next steps that would take almost 3 years.  People in theUSoften tout a book for being banned inChina, but I found out that it is much more difficult to be approved inChina!

 

我期待与你在网上继续谈话，分享那些书中我写不了的，一些资料和联结，还有我写的一些文章，并且跟你交流。我没办法太快，因为我要靠翻译一起来做这个双语网站（是的，我还只会英文，所以一切的荣耀都归给神）。

I look forward to continuing my online dialogue with you to give you more than I was allowed to give you in the book, to add resources and links, other articles that I write, and to interact with you.  Please be patient with me as I have to rely on translators to make this bi-lingual website work (yes, I am still monolingual – this way all the glory goes to God).