Allie Pleiter here. I’ve been reading (well, I’m an audiobook fan so I’ve actually been listening to) Greg Mortenson’s story Three Cups of Tea. I’d heard about the book many times before, and usually I tend to shy away from “trendy” books, but when my daughter’s college chose it as their all-college read-along, I decided it would be a good idea to see what all the fuss was about.
And, oh, how I long for my chance to be an all-college read-along! College of Charleston gave a copy of Three Cups of Tea to the entire freshman class (all those sales, all those new readers....see the little green envy monster emerge from behind my eyeballs...). Can you imagine a world where Love Inspired books had that kind of following? Love Inspired Author week on the Oprah Winfrey Show?
Ahem. Getting a little carried away there, sorry.
I didn’t think I’d like Three Cups of Tea. Don’t know why, just an impulse I had. Yet, I find I’m really enjoying the book because it is about obstacles and persistence and keeping your eye on a goal even though the path there winds and twists and turns back on itself multiple times. Our year has been like that, and as I read Mortensen’s story of building a school in a remote Pakistani village, I can see the places where our lives have taken the same exasperating turns. And uncovered the same unexpected blessings in the people and ideas we found in those turns.
At any given point in our lives--or our goals or our journeys--the only real choice we have is to take the moment in front of us and be in it. Thomas Nelson CEO Michael Hyatt, who has a very clever blog, says it is asking the question: “What does this make possible?” What conversation, what realization, what exchange, what didn’t-realize-it-was-valuable detour is in front of me if I’d only see it?
What about you? What “detour” is in front of your today that God could change into an opportunity or just a useful experience if you only asked “What does this make possible?”
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Allie,
ReplyDeleteI think every book I've ever written is one of these stories. And my path to publication was a series of "learning" experiences and setbacks that in the end made me the writer I am today! (Unfortunately or fortunately, that line doesn't stop with publication--I'm a work in progress.)
I'm setting out at my older age on a new page, so to speak. I feel called, I think, to write for Christ.I have been meeting authors on blog sites and reading their tips and have many great ideas on what to write about. Then, strangely, I have those episodes called "senior muments" and every good thought I had is gone. If I had written them down as I thought of them, I'd have probably written a book by now. I have so much to learn and am doing that with all the authors blogs, websites and Facebook connections and read all the wonderful tips and teaching points. Thank you, each and everyone of you for providing me with so much joy through reading.
ReplyDeleteI've re-written this comment now for the third time and it's different each time, and something mysterious has happened each time I pushed the "publish" button. It disappeared and showed "service unavailable." This time I will copy my comment in case it gets lost in publishing somewhere. LOL God bless each and every one of you.
Sharing Christ's Love,
Barb Shelton
barbjan10 at tx dot rr dot com