A Break from Impossible

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re doing well and that you’re heading towards summer with a heart full of hope. And if you’re not feeling too hopeful at the moment, just know that God is on the move. He always is.

I haven’t written a newsletter in a while because I’ve been busy writing, and rewriting, my latest book. My agent is now pitching it to publishers, which means I have a lot of time for other things, which is kind of awesome.

As you all probably know by now, chasing dreams is tiring. We dream the impossible, and sometimes, in a lightning-burst miracle, those dreams become reality.

…sometimes.

But most of the time, the impossible proves to be, well, impossible. We spend years desperately treading water in a sea of rejection letters. Books that don’t sell. High hopes that are dashed. Months of back-breaking work that goes to waste.  It’s absolutely exhausting.

As a writer, I’ve been through this roller coaster ride of emotions a million times, and I’ve begun to learn something. Occasionally, you need to take a total vacation from the impossible and focus on the present-day POSSIBLE.

Allow me to explain.  Yesterday, I started working on a new patio for our garden. Hard work, but, in a few weeks, I know I’ll have a patio. The patio is pretty much a sure thing.

Later, I helped my daughter, who’s heading off to college in the fall, complete some last-minute forms she had to fill out. She was stressed, and now she’s not as stressed. Success.

Then, I took my dog on a walk to make him happy. He’d been looking a little depressed. I opened the front door, and he bolted outside like a joyous tornado. I had to run to keep up with him. Mission accomplished!

I know this may seem so obviously simple. But chasing after dreams can be hope-shattering, tenuous, painful…and the dreams we’re after are never, ever, ever, a sure thing.

I know a lot of workshops and podcasts and blogs tell us to market more, get on social media more, write more, create more, pitch more, sell more, learn more….be more. But sometimes dreamers, it’s time to let the impossible go for a while, to focus on the present, to take time to work on the simple, the always rewarding, the always doable, POSSIBLE things in life.

You may not be able to get that impossible publishing deal right now, but you can write that email to a friend who needs encouragement.

You may not be able to fully mend that impossible, tangled relationship, but you can buy a gift and leave it on a front porch.

You may not be able to find that perfect one to marry now, but you can hang out with that friend who’s hurting.

You can play tag with your kids in the summer rain. You can take a late-night walk holding hands with the love of your life. You can go on that last-minute trip for ice cream after dinner. The kids will be happy. And, in the grand scheme of things, their opinions are the only opinions that truly matter.

And maybe, when we start enjoying the sweet and simple possible things, we’ll begin to realize that we’re not the people that our failures say we are. And maybe, we’ll begin to see that God can use us without the record deal, publishing contract, perfect family, million-dollar-job.

So, Dreamers, dream big, and hope bigger.…but also step off the front lines sometimes and focus on the POSSIBLE  things that are right in front of you.

Peace,