It takes a long time to master the art of dialogue in fiction writing. The actual keying in of quotation marks and placement of other punctuation can be daunting and interfere with the flow of conversation. But if we keep practicing, we will eventually get the hang of it. It will become second nature.
It takes a long time to master the art of dialoguing with God. Sometimes I catch myself thinking of the Lord as a genie in the sky, waiting to grant me my requests. Other times I talk at God as if prayer were a monologue. It isn’t meant to be one-sided or difficult. It’s meant as the communication link between Creator and creature. A lifeline, really.
Prayer is and will continue to be an enigmatic issue for me. I love the Lord, I praise His name and His greatness, I realize His power, and maybe because of all this, I don’t know how to address Him properly.
But God says, “Talk with me.” He created us for communion, and that is not one-sided.
As we craft our fictional dialogues, let’s remind ourselves to take time to practice our spiritual conversation as well. One great benefit is that with prayer, we don’t have to worry about punctuation placement.
Janice L. Dick 