How do I feel? Excited? Ebullient? Exuberant? All of those enthusiastic emotions and a lot more. In my lifetime I have experienced some of the best of times and some of the worst of times. Right now as I bubble with excitement, I find myself experiencing one of the best of times.
But I have had some ‘worsts.’ Two come to mind: one occurred after I left my short career in the pastorate; the other on our return from South Africa.
In the first case, I had completed my college training and accepted a call to a small church that had begun life by splitting from two churches. Hindsight tells me I moved too quickly. Within two years the church began to unravel. Having left college in debt, we now sank more deeply in debt. I returned to secular work. Although we had met precious people and learned much, life had not turned out as planned. It took us months to recover from the emotional downward spiral, and years to recover financially.
In the second case, we returned from South Africa in similar negative circumstances. Once again I thought I had embarked on a life-long career, but the outcome dropped far below all expectations. During that first year back in Canada, each one of us developed strange physical symptoms and had to visit specialists. Our overseas venture had some good outcomes: the boys learned a second language and became world citizens: all of us look on that time as a pivotal part of our lives when we learned things rarely available to most Canadians.
In both these cases we thought we had planned carefully, that we had done all the necessary research. Indeed, we had spent years in preparation but still didn’t get it right.
Fortunately, life also has its best of times. I’ve had a few, and find myself in the biggest one ever right now. My life experiences, good and bad, moved me toward becoming a writer. Although I had long dreamed of writing, it really got started when Rogers Engineering asked me to take charge of technical writing and publication. Next I volunteered to write for and edit a magazine for Partners International. Soon after, I began writing newspaper columns and books. Without even realizing it, I had developed a whole new career. I began critiquing manuscripts for other writers and have become busier during the last 15 years of retirement than ever before. These latter years have turned into a best-of-times experience.
And now it suddenly got even better. The Word Guild recently published a media release under the heading: Author and Writing Mentor Ray Wiseman to receive 2009 Leslie K. Tarr Award for Outstanding Career Achievement. Then to top it all off, another media release said that my latest book, co-authored with Don Ranney, has been short-listed for a Word Guild award.
This best-of-times experience has overcome all the worst-of-times. And through it all I have learned one thing: all the planning we do doesn’t necessarily bring about victorious times. In my life the best times have come as a surprise. Maybe it has something to do with not planning. When we just let go, the one who controls our destiny takes us down a better path.