Dreams and Wishes: A True Story

When a friend gave me a stunning lavender-hued African violet, I thanked her warmly, but didn’t give much thought to the name of the plant: Dreams and Wishes. Until yesterday.


I received an email from my agent re: a pass from an editor on my newest project. It went something like this:

“Dear Jeanette: Mr. Boo-Boo from So-and-So Publishing Co. likes your writing, and the idea for your new book, but he is passing due to your lack of a large platform. I’m so sorry. It’s really tough right now for new authors, but we’ll keep trying.”

Although I’m getting used to this kind of letter after many such passes in the last year, it still stings when someone returns my proposal due to my lack of platform. I’m not a lousy writer—I’m just not famous enough.

I stewed and gritched all day about that email, vacillating between concocting ways to increase my platform (embezzle tons of money, go to prison, then write a book about a preacher’s wife gone bad?), and giving up on trying to get published altogether.

Then I spied the African violet in the window of our dining room.

I had moved the plant several months ago when it looked like it might be dying. Perhaps this western exposure will give it more direct sunlight, I thought. As I reached to pull the curtains down at dusk, I spotted it: a tiny lavender bloom. The first bloom in months. My Dreams and Wishes had come back to life. All it needed was a change of location, and a little time.

Okay, God, I get it. Don’t give up on my dreams and wishes, just because one editor doesn’t think I have the right exposure. I will keep writing for You, my audience of ONE, and wait a little longer. Eventually, I’ll see a bloom.

And you, my friend? What are your dreams and wishes,
that the Lord would have you hold onto just a wee bit longer?
Don’t give up just yet. Your blooming days may be just around the next sunset.