Hey friends,
I’ve been carrying this moment in my heart for years and finally wanted to share it with you.
While in Oxford I made the writer’s pilgrimage to The Eagle and Child — the pub affectionately known as the “Bird and Baby.” This is the very place where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and the rest of the Inklings gathered week after week. They read chapters aloud, argued about words and myth and meaning, and let story do its holy work.
I got to sit right there — in the space where those conversations happened. The dark wood paneling, the low light, the weight of history thick in the air. It felt like the veil between their time and mine was thin. And besides that, I had an excellent pot of tea. 🫖☕️
I kept thinking about the courage it took for them to keep showing up for one another, to wrestle with big ideas and unfinished manuscripts, to believe that story could carry truth deeper than argument ever could.
And then… there are these two photos.
See that strange, ethereal haze — almost like a double exposure or a presence that wasn’t visible when the picture was taken?
It wasn’t something I noticed in the moment. And this was back in the days when we had to get our photos developed. The photos came out with that uncanny, almost supernatural quality. A trick of the old building’s light? A camera flare? A friendly Inklings wink across time? I don’t know. But it gave me chills in the very best way and I’ve treasured these photos over the years.
These men believed the imagination could be a doorway to the divine. They wove their faith into myth and let story do what only story can do — slip past our defenses and plant something eternal.
Sitting in their corner, and then seeing this photo afterward… it felt like a little confirmation. We are not writing alone. We’re part of a long, living conversation.
For those of us who keep showing up to the page even when it’s hard — this is why we do it. We add our voices to the ones who came before, hoping our stories might encourage, heal, or point someone toward the Light.
I’m so grateful for this corner of the internet where we get to do that together. You remind me that community still matters, that story still matters, and that we’re all carrying the same flame in our own way.
Have you ever had a “thin place” creative moment — a location, a photo, a dream, or a coincidence that felt charged with meaning?
I love talking about this kind of stuff so let me know in the comments. 🙂
Brandy
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