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When Kayleon Dortch-Elliott was a child, a local author paid a visit to her elementary school. After the author read her book during an assembly, Dortch-Elliott, along with all of the other children, got her very own signed copy. Dortch-Elliott remembers being in awe of this author, who happened to be a woman of color like herself.
“I remember leaving that assembly thinking, ‘I want to be her one day,’” Dortch-Elliott said.
And that’s exactly what she did.
Today, Kayleon Dortch-Elliott is the author of two books, the latest being To Everything: Seeing the Sacred in Ordinary Seasons and Common Days, released in September of this year. As a staunch advocate of meeting Christians “in the margins,” Dortch-Elliott urges her readers to not just look for God’s presence during the big moments of life, but also in those ordinary and common days that we all encounter.
Dortch-Elliott has always wanted to be a writer. She ran a blog for 10 years, but it was the thesis work she completed at the end of her master’s program that pushed her into considering publishing her writing professionally. She weaves elements of theology and psychology into her work, grounding her Biblical insights in the realities of everyday living.
“What I like to do with my writing is combine faith and feelings and honor our humanity when we’re talking about faith,” she said.
Growing up in the church, Dortch-Elliott often felt like there was no place for some of the feelings that come along with life—disappointment, sadness, loss, and even doubt. She later realized she didn’t have to push those feelings to the back burner in order to be a “good Christian.” She challenges her readers to leave room for humanity in their faith journey.
“I encourage a faith that’s real, and sometimes that includes questions and doubts,” she said, “and being able to make room for that without feeling guilty.”
To Everything… is broken up into four sections, each related to a different season of life. The book was inspired by Ecclesiastes chapter 3, a passage from the Bible that speaks of the cyclical nature of life and the idea that there is a time and a season for everything, “a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal…” and so on.
Dortch-Elliott said she used a lot of the revelations from her own faith journey to write her book. She includes affirmations and blessings at the end of every chapter, not as platitudes but as words she used or needed to hear while she found herself going through some of the situations the book details.
She was also inspired by a passage from the book of Genesis chapter 28 about a dream Jacob (one of the founding patriarchs of the nation of Israel) had while resting during a journey. Awakening from the dream, Jacob says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Dortch-Elliott says that life’s revelations don’t always have to come from life’s big events, and she hopes that her readers will start to recognize that they can find deep meaning in what seems like even the most mundane of life’s moments.
“I hope that this book allows us to have those ‘a-ha’ moments, not in those grandiose moments, but in those small moments when we are wrestling or doubting. We can have that ‘a-ha’ moment while going around in circles,” she said. “When we don’t have clarity or feel like God is near us, we can have that moment of, ‘Oh, he’s actually been here the whole time.’”
To Everything: Seeing the Sacred in Ordinary Seasons and Common Days by Kayleon Dortch-Elliott is now available at Read & Found Books. Get your copy here.
Learn more about Kayleon Dortch-Elliott and Write on the Margin Publishing at https://www.kayleondortchelliott.com/.
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