I recently read a touching story by a gentleman who makes his living writing. This author related that at one writers’ conference he attended, he noticed an older man standing in the back. This conference attendee looked out of place.
After approaching the attendee and introducing himself, the author discovered that the attendee was a janitor at a local community college. This was the janitor’s first writers’ conference. After harboring a life-long desire to write, his wife had encouraged him to attend the conference to pursue his dream.
The janitor then showed the author something he had written. It immediately became apparent that the janitor was fairly uneducated and needed some help with basic grammar. The author encouraged the janitor to take grammar classes at the community college where he worked since he could attend the classes free of charge as an employee of the institution. The author then promised to critique the janitor’s future writings.
After a year of critiquing the janitor’s monthly writings, correspondence stopped. The author called the janitor to find out why. Speaking to the wife on the telephone, the author discovered that the janitor had recently passed away.
After expressing his condolences, the author remarked that it was sad the janitor had never reached his goal of writing for publication. The wife told the author not to feel bad, that in the past year of her husband’s life he had been the happiest she had ever seen him.
The moral of this story is: Follow your dreams.
Proverbs 29:18 says, Where there is no vision, the people perish, and Psalms 37:4 promises, Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
What is your dream? What is the desire of your heart?
God wants to give it to you, but you must take the first steps in that direction.
If your desire is to write a book for publication, then begin by attending a writers’ conference.
If your desire is to publish a book, then begin by educating yourself on the publishing and marketing process.
If your desire is to become a speaker to better promote your books, then start by taking a course on public speaking such as Toastmasters.
Now is the time to start. Don’t put it off. You don’t know the number of your days.
For years I have wanted to make a quilt out of squares of old jean material. I have collected jeans and stored them in my closet for the past five years. Recently, I decided it was time to take another step toward fulfilling my dream. Over the Thanksgiving holiday (when I officially turned one year older), I started cutting the jeans into squares. If I persevere, one step at a time, one day I will have a completed jean-square quilt.
How about you? What dream are you carrying? As we enter the New Year, may one of your goals be to pursue the dream you have long carried and begin taking steps to reach it.
