Finding and Following Your Passion???

Graduates through the nation are being told, “Follow your passion.” But what if your passion is to do God’s will? That leaves you with a broad range of possibilities. I love writing but I love God more. I love writing precisely because I experience God through writing. I feel close to God when I am creating. I love teaching and preaching and counseling, but do so only because I believe that is what God wants me to do.

Since losing my position last July I’ve yet to receive a memo from the guy in the sky in regards to what to do next. If my passion were to write, then I would pursue a course of writing, no holds barred. If it were for teaching, I’d have sent out even more applications then I have. If my passion were for counseling, I’d have put out my shingle and see what I got. If my passion were for community organizing, I’d have pursued a position at one of the many non-profits in my community where I have connections. But my passion is to do what I believe God wants me to do so I’ve pursued each of these possibilities trying to see if that is the direction God is leading me in, holding none too tightly, pursuing none with a passion, and perhaps that is why nothing has come to the surface.

Seeking to do God’s will requires an openness to wherever God may be calling; it requires confronting life with open palms, not grabbing tight to any chance dream that may surface. It requires slowing down to consult God about any course of action, going forward, pursuing possibilities, allowing the question – is this the right direction? It requires waiting for direction, but not sitting still, doing nothing for sometimes God speaks in the doing as well as the stillness.

It’s been nine months and I’m still waiting for direction. I continue to send out resumes and complete job applications. I continue to send out manuscripts hoping for that one that will catch fire and let me know that now is the time to write full time. I meet with individuals for spiritual direction and grief counseling and organize community events, all the while wondering what will show up. Meanwhile God seems to be telling me I’m doing okay, stay the course, use this time of unemployment well to prepare for whatever future life has in store for me.

So I wait.

What is your passion?



Copyright May 2013 Robertson

Writing 2012

I wrote this in January of this year but waited to post it until I felt ready to devote sufficient time to blogging.  Since then little has changed.  2013 is looking a lot like 2012.  So I thought I would go ahead and post now.

Writing 2012


In 2012 I had one article accepted for publication.

4 book proposals rejected. 4 articles rejected. May not sound like a lot but given that it takes months before you hear back on a submission and the places I sent to do not accept multiple submissions, it’s a long slow process just to get a rejection.

One query letter still waiting for a response. Two articles waiting for a response and one pamphlet.

One book manuscript still under consideration since November of 2011. Did I say it’s a long slow process?

I almost had an agent only to have him retire. However on the plus side he is helping me get to the point of getting an agent.

I didn’t know whether to be encouraged or discouraged when I read about one writer who went through three agents before getting a book published.

Such is the life of a writer.

Adventures in blogging

I’m not much of a blogger. I’ve come into this in a back handed way. My first effort was to publish one of my novels one chapter at a time with the idea that it would go viral and result in a real publishing deal. I put out one chapter and when there was no demand to continue posting chapters I gave this up.

When years later I decided to try blogging again, I discovered the blog site pattynicnac had already been claimed. How dare they! I had forgotten about my earlier attempt. The person who had stolen my blog site was an earlier version of me.

So then, preachingthepsalms.blogspot was born. I had started a preaching series on the Psalms and thought I would share this on-line with the thought there might be other ministers who might want to try this as well and would benefit from my musings much as I had benefitted from sermons and sermon suggestions at other web-sites. I was already doing the work of writing the sermon. It wouldn’t take much effort to put them on-line, I thought.

This came to an abrupt halt when my position as chaplain was eliminated, taking with it my need to come up with weekly sermons. Time to revise and revisit what I was doing on this blog.

In the meantime, a helpful post by Meghan Ward, Networking for Introverts: 10 Blogging Tips for Authors, let me know I had been doing everything wrong. “Don’t bore people by posting long chapters of your work.” Don’t post on your blog anything you want to have published as publishers will consider it already published. Keep your posts short and engage your reader. So much for my novel and sermons. Fortunately, very few logged on to read my posts so I figured little harm had been done.

So here I am, learning from my mistakes. Is there any other way to learn? If there is please tell me. I must be the wisest of women for I have made enough mistakes.

I’m trying it again. Maybe this time I’ll get it right.

Oh, and always leave your reader with a thought provoking question to engage them in your blog.

What have you learned from your mistakes?




Copyright Robertson May 2013