The Good News

“Dear Author,

It's with a great deal of pleasure that I tell you that your entry progressed successfully from the Initial Short list to the Intermediate Short List.

Your entry has now achieved Commended status. Please accept my heartiest congratulations!

Sadly, however, your work has not been selected for the Final Short List. Nonetheless, you did remarkably well to progress this far in the judging. Only approximately 50 submissions out of the 2,000 or so received are now being considered for cash prizes and Highly Commended citations.”

Thus began the email notifying me that my short story did not make the final cut. A babe-in-writing, this was still good news to me. The very kind judge made several encouraging remarks, urging me to edit, re-write, re-tweak and re-submit, which I have every intention of doing.

The title of the judge’s email was “The Good News and the Not So Good.” The entire email started me thinking, “What if God treated us like this?” What if, at the end of every day, we had to submit a manuscript of our day to God? What would His response be?

Dear Edwina:

It is with a great deal of pleasure that I tell you I have received your manuscript for today’s activities. Thank you for your timely submittal.

Sadly, I must tell you that your manuscript did not make the Initial Short List. Your activities today were less than satisfactory. For example: The lady you cut off in traffic because you left too late to get to work on time? She couldn’t see too well because she was crying. She had just found out that she no longer had a job to look forward to everyday.

The clerk in the grocery store whose head you bit off when she couldn’t tell you where to find that special sauce you absolutely had to have? She had just started her next shift, after having been on her feet for eight hours, making minimum wage, so she can put food on the table for herself and her two children.

I could go on, but you get the point. Please consider editing, re-writing, re-tweaking and re-submitting tomorrow.

Sincerely,
GOD

Obviously, God does not require a daily manuscript, nor does He send us a daily letter. But He does expect our “daily manuscript” to look much better than mine did (both the actual written one and the one I just made up!)

I want mine to read “You have represented Me well today my child. I saw you pay for the elderly gentleman’s groceries. I heard you when you stopped in the middle of your busy day and prayed for everyone on the prayer list. You showed My love to everyone you saw. Well done, my child!" Love,God

What about you? What would your daily manuscript look like? What would God’s response be?

May all of our “manuscripts” improve every day!