"What have I gotten myself into?" I thought, when the instructor for the picture book practicum at Blue Ridge asked us to put aside our works in progress and begin something new during our four days together. The picture book practicum was a stretch for me, but I was looking for inspiration and direction for a non-fiction children's project I'd started months ago.
The instructor was delightful, but when I realized my goal for participating could not be reached, I questioned whether the practicum was for me. Beginning from scratch in an unfamiliar fictional genre was not what I had anticipated, but I decided to accept the challenge, wrestle with the homework, and try to keep up with my more proficient classmates.
By the time my idea for a story took shape, I was already a day behind most of the class, but enthusiastic that the focus of this story idea for a children's book had been formulated from my passion for family caregiving - how God redeems a disability for our good and His glory.
Lingering in the shade of the sweetgum trees one warm and muggy afternoon last week, I watched the red-bellied woodpecker drink from the birdbath and thought about that story for children and how God always shows me mercies that I might rejoice - even in disability - when I'm flaring and it's much too painful to go for a walk, for it's when I'm forced to be still that I can see and hear and taste His goodness.
