"But Whhhyyy?" by Linda S. Glaz

I read an amazing devotional this morning that I knew was "just for me". It talked about why God doesn't answer, giving us reasons for His decisions. Can you imagine the turmoil if He accounted to us for all of His decisions?

"But whhhyyyy? I really wanted that. Why naahhhht!??" Talk about opening a can or worms. Well, it's the same in our writing careers. I can only think how Terry would have felt the first time I contacted him if I'd written back and said, "But why not? You're missing out on the novel of a lifetime!" (We honestly DO get these) Or if I'd cornered him at the ACFW conference and dominated all his time at the table. "But why didn't you want my story? What was wrong with it? Everyone who reads it loves it: Mom, cousin, children, friends, boss, on and on and on. So why don't you love it?"

I can only imagine God laughing his socks off (does He wear socks?) I've heard of Holy mackerels, Holy cows, Holy loads of pain, but never Holy socks. I could ask, but He might not give me a reason one way or the other. Anyway, He has to be amused at how we try to second guess all of His decisions. Would we want a reason so we could argue, try to change His mind instead of believing He's doing something for our own good? All of our best interests at the core of His heart in order to make us stronger Christians.

And isn't that what agents do? Instead of blowing smoke at us, they try to help. Try to encourage. Try to get us to see how we can be stronger writers--not saying yes or giving us lame reasons when what we really need to do is put our noses to the stone and write-write-write.

So, next time you receive a rejection, instead of why-ning, listen to the constructive criticism and try to improve, day by day, week by week, word by word until you have a work you can once again try to get pubbed. Never quit and in case I've not said it before:

PERSEVERE and stop the why-ning!