the eyes of the Lord

The eyes of the Lord are upon me. For some reason, I can't help thinking that when I see this picture from yesterday when I was cooking up a mess of vegetables to bring to a holiday boat party. Okay, so maybe that  phrase springs to mind because I've been editing a Biblical commentary lately, thus everything seems to relate to the Bible in some way, but I think there may be more to it. The eyes of the Lord really are upon me. God has my back, and He has a plan. Sometimes my view of that plan has been very hazy as I've tried to make my way from day to day, but I am learning to follow my Godinstincts. God gives us instincts for a reason, and I am more assured than ever that we only need follow them, no matter what, in order to get to the place we are meant to be.

Here's my example, and I am going out on a limb here (yeah... I'm that bold), as the end of this story has not been written yet. But last week, I got this essay about dads laid on my heart so strongly that I had to write it down; I couldn't not write it, though I cried the whole time. It was cathartic,as they say. So, anyhow, I wanted to submit it to the Dallas Morning News to be run on Father's Day weekend. On the day that I was finalizing this piece, my editing project was all about the prodigal son story, which helped me to understand that story like never before. It related to the dad essay I was writing, which I thought quite interesting timing.

I sat on the dad essay all last week, getting feedback on it from a couple of pals so I could get it up to its best form. Over the weekend, I had a strong inkling to submit it by today, though Father's Day weekend is still a ways off, but I was trying to talk myself out of this because I was nervous to submit it for that week when my next deadline is not til July first and I've never tried to submit something for a date other than my assigned date. Alright, alright, so maybe I am a bit of a neurotic rule follower. Is that a problem? Anyhow I was worried about rudely usurping the people whose due date was for Father's Day week? Oy. Yet, still I felt compelled to submit it today. 

Low and behold, this morning I open an email from our editor, which I'd gotten last week and had not gotten a chance to read yet, and in it he says that he will be on vacation Father's Day week, so nobody has that week assigned as a deadline, but he wants any of us to submit anything we have for that week, as he is open to all ideas. WHAT? Can somebody say woo-woo? I had to reread the email because this has never happened before in the almost year I've been doing this columnist thing. We've always had certain people assigned to certain weeks. Amazing coincidence, or something more? You be the judge.

I emailed him that I had written a piece on dads for that weekend, and would submit by the end of the day, and he responded, "Perfect. Thanks." How cool. I got it in just before five. We'll see if he accepts it. Fingers crossed. 

PS On my last post: people, of course. That's what I told Morgan.