You know how you cut an orange in half and then turn it inside out to eat it, scraping the fruit off the rind with your teeth? That’s my writing process. It’s messy but fulfilling. I write over the sink, if you will, wiping the words off on my sleeve.

What else do I have to do? The truth is consuming me like I consume an orange, from the inside out. It’s the same way with all of us; some of us just don’t know it, yet. And when we know it, we don’t always remember it. We think of ourselves as the shiny orange peel with the wax and sticker on it instead of as juicy food for someone.

Truth is Vitamin C for the soul. Yeah, I know. Somebody took the food for the soul idea and ran with it. I should have been so lucky. Instead I am writing for a few people about the one truth worth knowing. We are the whole kit and kaboodle, the whole shebang. We are the seed, the sunlight, the pulp and the rind. No one tells us this as we come screaming headfirst into this noisy world. But we learn it soon enough. One fine day a death or illness will turn you inside out, like it did me. A good teacher will finish the job and leave you in open space.

Once there, you feel your nakedness, as if you have just been through another birthing experience. Only this time there is no mother’s milk; only the juice you can squeeze from your own essence. Whew. Time for a nice long rest in the arms of God. He’s been waiting.