SECRETS

A few months ago I joined a local writers group here in Tulsa.  These very gifted men and women meet just once a month to share tips and tricks of the trade.  Their meetings are informative, educational and encouraging.   I try to  attend when I'm in town but don't make it every month.

A while back the President of the organization gave a talk on how to write devotionals for magazines that do that sort of thing. It was intriguing.  I left with a spiral bound notebook full of ideas.   As usual she also stressed the importance of perseverance.  It was common to submit many articles to magazines only to receive the dreaded rejection notice.  Rejection is reality for wanna-be writers.  It's part of the process and expected.

I came home that night, sat down at my computer and whipped out a devotion, taking all of ten minutes.  I'd followed my newly acquired instructions to the letter. 

I conjured up memories and wrote of the day many years ago when  my mother-in-law who is now deceased shared with me the "secrets" of her county wide famous angel food cake recipe.  It was a simple day packed with urgency for I was the only one in the family interested and we both knew that when she was gone the recipe would be lost. The many steps it took to achieve the perfect angel food cake was daunting.   Many times the family would discuss the futility of the process when you could buy a cake at Walmart and have it digested in the time it took to get through step 3 of the "made from scratch" variety.

It was a quiet poignant exercise.   Her secrets were entrusted to me as the next generation of grandmas that would eventually have the time to sift that flour seven times, not six, not eight, but SEVEN!  Such secrets MUST be shared eventually.

The Bible tells us that believers are "entrusted with the secret things of God" and that those important secrets MUST be shared from generation to generation.  That was the connection  devotional magazines are crazy about!

That's the story in a nutshell.

I clicked on all the right icons, submitted my devotional to a well known Christian publication and WAL - LA, this past week I got a message saying that my article had been accepted for publication. 

UNBELIEVABLE!  Where was the rejection letter?  First and only article?  What?  You've got to be kidding me!

I felt like I'd just reach GO without going all the way around the board.  I'd not spent enough sweat and tears or years to warrant this news.

Honeybuns was startled by my uncontrollable laughter!  How could this possibly be happening? It certainly wasn't my writing skills that brought about this "success."  I have none!

I think it was the message.  One generation sharing with another something important! 

There is much to share, to talk about, to gently instruct.   There is a need and an urgency.

Who could have predicted that a cake recipe shared on a quiet day would have produced this conversation years later?

I read recently of a kindergarten that was re-located to a nursing home.  The children's classes were held IN the facility and young and old alike all ate lunch together, did recess together, read together and made some inter-generational friendships.  Behavioral problems in the children all but disappeared. Loneliness often experienced in homes for the elderly was replaced with anticipation and conversation.

Young and old interacting, sharing laughter, stories, perhaps secrets. It's a win-win situation. What a great idea! 

Today I think I'll be on the lookout for some young friend that wants to bake a cake!  I have a secret recipe!  IF the conversation takes a spiritual bend perhaps I'll even share a couple of secrets God has whispered in my ear.