Friendship Footprints

I remember as a child a young girl who I sat with in church at times. She came with her grandparents and was very spoiled. This child always had candy to eat and was encouraged by her grandmother "to share" with me. Her answer? "You don't want any, do you?"

Of course, I did. I was a child myself.

Was she a friend? Nope. At least, if she was she a very shallow one. Selfish and self-centered. I have no idea where she is today or what she became. There was little, if any, friendship to endure the expanse of time.

I know another person I seldom see. When we run across each other, it seems we both enjoy the encounter. We spend the five, ten, maybe even the fifteen or thirty, minutes updating each other and catching up a sporatic amount of news.

A friend? Perhaps. We were at one time. And it could be that if circumstances would deem it so, we could be good friends again in the future.

Now take another person I know. She sends cards now and then and her church has been known to give "special" gifts to hubby and me. But that's not what all is important to me, nor what I cherish. Here are some of her friendship traits:

She's a good listener.
She encourages.
She's loyal.
She's faithful, and tactful, when she doesn't agree with me.
She wants to read my nonsense--and my writing.

That's just for starters.

They've stamped on your heart and left their friendship. You know you can't scare them away when you're despondent or mouthy or grouchy or hyper. They see beneath the surface hurt and read what's really going on.

A good friend? Seen you in the bad times and still with you in the good times.
Now that, my friends, is a real friend!




Feel lonely? Feel like you don't have a friend in the world? Then check out these hints and see if you're following them:

1. Be dependable: do what you say you'll do!
2. Go out of your way to be friendly and to help others.
3. Don't talk about others behind their backs.
4. Don't laugh at the mistakes of others and don't correct them.
5. Do your share; don't be lazy!
6. Don't always try to have your own way.
7. Treat others like you'd like you'd like to be treated

Results: Friends!

Quote:
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same.


Blessings

Grabbing My Hat . . .


Just a quick hello and gotta go. Trying to get last minute items done before camp. (not writing conference--a church camp). Thankfully, my youngest son's girlfriend stayed up late last night and helped me get things done. That was a big load off.

Anyhow, hope you all have a wonderful weekend. See ya (so to speak) on Tuesday.


Quote:
If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast a gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend; that would be giving as the angels give. --George McDonald

Blessings

Equipped


I'm a writer.

Do you know how many years it took before I admitted that? Not that I didn't write. Through school and college and life and later, more schooling, I wrote. And not to brag, I always received encouraging remarks and comments. I can write.

But I hid my talent (light) under a bushel. I let it simmer on the pot all these years and never applied myself to doing something with it -- seriously.

Now, I have and am. That burning desire deep in my being has never been extinguished. I can't get away from it, nor do I want to. Life hasn't smothered it. Slowness in development hasn't discouraged it.

One thing troubles me. People don't really realize what a journey writing a novel is. What it entails, what discouragements stand smack dab in the middle of the road.

I cringe when someone asks me if I'm published yet. Or have you heard anything yet? No, no, and no. I'm working at getting traditionally published. That doesn't normally happen over night. Weeks and months and sometimes years. Rejections, and research, and study, and writing and plateaus of nothing, and more writing. More meeting editors and agents. More synopses, more outlines, more one-pages, more cards, more, more, more.

My husband is writing some children's stories (and also a prayer and fasting book). BUT he is satisfied (at least, right now) at my efforts at self-publishing his works. That's what he is targeting. Friends, neighbors, family, and some church people.

I'm targeting a harder to accomplish task of securing a traditional publisher. A broader readership. Not that I won't ever self-publish. Someday, maybe. But right now, this is what I feel I should reach for.

Here's one man's thoughts on his efforts at publishing.

When Larry Julian was trying to get a publisher for his nonfiction book, "God is My CEO," he wrote:

I had just received my 17th rejection letter, though it felt like the 187th. After that, finding the inspiration from God to work on my book was like looking for a penquin in the desert. It just wasn't there.

That day, as I sat cross-legged on the floor at Borders bookstore, I remember feeling totally insignificant and inadequate. I stared at the hundreds of leadership books. "Lord, this is impossible! How in the world am I going to have my book sitting in bookstores with these leadership giants? I can't compete with them! I don't even deserve to be on the same shelf with them. I'm sorry, Lord. What you're asking is too much."

Later that day he thought about the years he'd committed to the book-writing process, yet had nothing to show for them. He felt stuck. He'd invested too much to quit, but had absolutely no energy to move forward.

His mentor met him for lunch that day and read to him 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 "We have this treasure in vessels to show that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, but not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."

His mentor said, "God tests us to display us; the devil tempts us to destroy us."

Can I empathize? You bet! Am I tested? I feel like it sometimes.

Discouraged because I hate and can't write synopses. Discouraged because I don't have an editor right this minute. Discouraged because I reach plateaus of nothingness. Discouraged because I have too much to do.

But quit? Nope. I can't and won't. No sireee.




Quote:
God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called.


Abundant Blessings