In the Meantime... - AuthorCynthiaHerron.com

Do you ever fantasize about a much-anticipated event? Ever imagine the outcome surpassing your wildest expectations?

Of course you have.

We’ve all envisioned a goal mastered, a dream obtained, or a deeply held desire coming to fruition. In our mind, we may even visualize each step, each success or blunder, it took to get there.

Sometimes, the mere mental walk-thru is enough to propel us forward toward our goals. As long as we picture ourselves moving, rather than remaining stationary, we’re more likely to make our fantasy a reality.

Often, as I write I do this.

When the days grow long and exhaustion seeps into my bones, I think about all the words I wrote that day. I picture those words becoming books. And I picture readers’ faces as they eagerly turn the pages of stories I labored over just for them.

Ask any writer why he writes.

We don’t write for just the pleasure of it (though, that’s a huge part).

We write stories because we want to move others.

We want to delight and entertain our readers. We want to make them think.

We want them to pause and linger over our words, completely smitten with some golden nugget they just read.

Whatever our genre, we want to grab our readers by the coat-tail. To have them leave our pages reluctantly only to consider our stories for months, maybe years, to come.

I mulled over the writing process this week as I studied the robin’s nest just outside our daughter’s window.

If you’ve ever watched a bird build its nest, you know it’s quite the process. Nest-building can sometimes turn into a two or three-day event. As various twigs and sticks are gathered and fashioned with a mud-like paste into a rather crude semi-circle, gradually, a more uniformed shape begins to take place.

The robin’s nest looks more like home.

It’s no longer just a blob of twigs, sticks, and mud. For the next few weeks, it’s cradle to new life—sanctuary for our feathered friends as they grow and acclimate to their new world.

Our robin had her nest completed in about two days.

The first blue egg arrived about a day after Mama-bird assembled the nest.

“Come look, Mom. There’s the first one.” College gal parted her window blinds ever-so-slightly for me to see. “She’ll lay an egg per day for a total of four, I think.”

“Ohh, so sweet, honey. I hope she’ll lay all four.”

Apparently, College Gal’s done her research because Mama-robin did lay three more eggs—one per day just like College-gal predicted.

It’s been almost twelve days now since Mama-bird laid that first egg, and each day we carefully part the mini-blinds to take a peek to see if anything new’s occurred. We’re expecting the eggs to hatch by the weekend and momentum’s building.

“Anything happening yet?” I ask College Gal at least half-a-dozen times a day.

“Not yet, Mom. I’ll let you know.”

We’re excited about new life right outside her window.

In the meantime, we watch and wait.

We expand our patience.

We swallow our fear and enjoy the journey.

Whenever Mama-bird flies away for a few moments, I still get a little nervous, wondering if she’ll return.

She always does.

Now, watching baby birds hatch may not seem as grand when compared to other life events, but the principle’s the same.

We know how things are supposed to go. How we want them to go. Pray for them to go.

But nothing’s ever a given.

That’s where faith comes in.

Enjoying the ride, however long and time-consuming, isn’t near as scary when we consider what awaits.

If what starts as mere twigs and a little mud is sturdy enough to sustain four baby birds, then think how little God needs to raise up and sustain our dreams.

The mundane bursts with possibility.

And creating something from nothing, as you know, is God’s specialty.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

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