By Kevin Moore, author of Christmas Stories, Volume II
I learned to pray at the age of three, though I didn’t realize at the time that my mother was guiding me into a lifelong conversation with God. As she moved through our railroad flat apartment, I would follow her, praying for each person whose name she mentioned and for knowledge and wisdom, which I still seek now, although I did not understand their meaning at the time. This was just the beginning of my journey into what I now understand as The Language of God—a unique and personal form of communication that differs for everyone.
When I was six, lying on the hood of a car, I discovered that you could speak to God without uttering a single word. The sounds of kids playing stickball, skellsy, and hopscotch in my New York City neighborhood filled the air as the early autumn sun warmed my face. I drifted between wakefulness and sleep, experiencing a state of being where one half of my mind rested while the other remained alert—something akin to the unihemispheric sleep of whales and dolphins. The voices and laughter around me seemed to fall like autumn leaves, preparing me for an inner stillness I hadn’t known before.
At that moment, I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe what was happening, but in hindsight, I recognized that I was meditating. While prayer is a form of speaking to God, meditation is a way of listening. In a world often filled with chaos, that was the first time I sensed something far greater than myself—greater than my family, school, church, or even government. It was a universal truth, a knowing. There is something larger than all of us, whether you call it God, the Source, the Universe, or by any other name. The Great I Am is always trying to communicate with us. Finding your own language, your unique way of interacting and hearing God is a deeply personal journey that belongs solely to you.
Exploring this spiritual language has been one of the greatest joys of my life. It’s a journey that no one else can dictate for you—whether you find it while tending flowers in your garden, floating on the water, or sitting in a church, it’s about opening yourself to that communication and truly listening. My relationship with God has grown through practices like using mantras, traditional prayers, songs, transcendental meditation, yoga, and the people in my life.
As a storyteller, spirituality is integral to my characters, as vital as their eye color or birthplace. Whether they are introduced as believers, atheists, or agnostics, the presence of God and spirituality is there, even in its absence. It’s about unfolding a character’s relationship with the divine, whether that involves an awakening, anger, or feelings of abandonment. I’ve experienced all of these emotions in my life, yet I continue to listen and seek connection. I’ve learned that God is not a genie in a lamp, here to grant our every wish. While the power of prayer can lead to miracles, they often come in forms we never expected but deeply need. After all, who knows what you need better than God?
Discovering your own language with God is a remarkable journey, one that has enriched my life and found its way into my writing. I take great pleasure in weaving this spiritual awakening into my stories, where even the most unlikely characters can experience a profound shift, sparked by seemingly insignificant or extraordinary events.
Writing Christmas Stories, Volume II allowed me to delve deeply into these themes. The Christmas season, with its rich significance in the Christian faith, offers a perfect backdrop for exploring life, love, and spirituality. It’s a time of giving and gathering, where joy and magic mingle with memories of the past, both happy and sad. For me, Christmas has always been a season of warmth and wonder, though tinged with sorrow, as my mother passed away two days before Christmas during my teenage years after a long battle with breast cancer. Her loss profoundly affected my ability to fully enjoy the season until I had children of my own and re-awakened to my personal spiritual journey.
Christmas embodies hope, love, and renewal, making it a powerful setting to explore these themes in my writing. My hope is that readers will find themselves encountering these spiritual truths in a way that feels authentic and life-like, not preachy. Whether in my Christmas stories or my previous and upcoming books (The Book of Souls, Waking Sleeping Beauty), I aim to awaken something in readers—be it a sense of hope, a deeper understanding, or a renewed connection to the divine.
In the end, it’s not just about the answers we find but also about the questions we continue to ask. Perhaps the greatest lesson is that in seeking, we discover more than we ever imagined.