“How’s your book coming along?” my brother Bruce asked.
“Umm…good. I’m close to being finished.”
Define close.
“It gets embarrassing. Telling people that I’m still writing my book. Ahem…ten years later. I’m like an archer though. I don’t want to just hit the target—I want to hit the bulls eye. I could be published by now, but writing is not just about writing. A good writer has to develop an audience and that takes time.”
“Well, Christy. It takes time to grow a tree too.”
“Huh?”
“When you started writing, you didn’t look any more like a writer than an acorn resembles an oak tree.”
“Thanks, Bruce.”
“But you had a dream and your dream was a seed. After a while, that little seed sprouted and a sapling grew.
“I’m a sapling?”
When did you become a philosopher?
“Not forever. But don’t get discouraged. An oak tree takes years to grow shade and splendor but given the right environment, eventually, what was once a small sprout grows into a large oak tree. And so will you. So, keep doing what you’ve been doing. Nourish your dream with prayer, belief and helping others and before you know it…you’ll be that mighty oak tree.”
My brother called to ask about my writing.
He’s a tree trimmer.
Figures.
Isaiah 61:4 And they shall be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
Posted on
Sunday, October 19, 2008
by Christy Johnson
filed under