Dimensions: 8″ x 12″
If your life is currently brimming with all sorts of good things of your own making — and a few you had absolutely nothing to do with — this post is not for you. Of course, you’re welcome to read any post of mine; but this is probably the type of post you might not be interested in squandering time on when you could be living la vida loca. If, on the other hand, your immediate response to the current state of your union can be summed up in a facepalm, this post might make your heart smile.
I’ve transitioned from the outlining and plotting phase of my next book, The Raindancer: Finding Joy in the Storm, into that creative free-fall phase where I barf up the book page by page free of any self-editing knowing full well that this first draft will be — as Ernest Hemingway said so eloquently — shit.
Today I had the honor and privilege of interviewing the wife of the real-life inspiration for one of my principal characters. My purpose: to gain a little more insight into this person’s backstory to flesh out my character’s motives. As with any principal character in a book or movie, the reader is introduced to my character at a pivotal point in his life and over the course of the story through a series of choices (disguised as seemingly unrelated circumstances) the characters winds up irreversibly changed. For the better.
Shortly after our two-hour conversation, I had the following epiphany.
Life’s events — past, present, and future — are woven together like an elaborate tapestry. Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to see the tapestry as a whole. We’re limited to kinda maybe sorta seeing the present with very limited information about why others did the things they did, not to mention how our own choices affected others. And we can only view the past only through the gift of hindsight coupled with time.
It’s kinda crazy.
But at the same time it’s not.
My muse went through a ton of crap. He didn’t know which way was up. Life knocked him down, beat him up, and put him through the wringer on many fronts. But he had a unique quality: he was (and is) a man of his word and just kept plugging away.
And now?
This guy is on top of the world! And living a life he could’ve never imagined a few years ago. He’s married to a wonderful wife, has a blossoming career in music, and is an all-around changed man. (If you think that sounds pretty cool, just wait till you read about him in the book.)
The Take-away There’s a few you out there in some really dire situations — medical challenges, family challenges, financial challenges, the loss of loved ones, employment situations, marital uncertainties, and more — but hang in there. You may not see the point of it all, but remember this: all things work together for good to those who love God. (Romans 8:28) A better day is coming.