You just never know—

When the phone rang, I had no idea who it would be. Even when the woman said she was calling to get permission to quote me, I did not suspect what she would say next, which was:
 “I’m calling from the Oprah Show.”

After I untied my tongue, I discovered that a guest on Oprah had quoted a story that is printed in Mary’s Way and has been widely quoted on the Internet, in anthologies, and in books. Oprah read his book and therefore my quote. She wants to have the quote, “…we never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace” and my name, projected on a screen during their interview.

I thought this was a nice blip, but did not immediately see how to capitalize on it other than to get moving on the changes I plan to my website. Then Valerie Leff called and encouraged me to call a couple publishers with this news and see if that would get them to consider my manuscript. I had some trepidation about doing this until a mentor said, “How can they say yes unless you give them the opportunity to say no?” So I wrote out my script and Voila! The O word does work wonders and the manuscript is being scrutinized.

After telling this story in class, a participant congratulated me. I replied, “Nothing may come of it.” Her response was, “It already has.” And she is right.

Several teachings present themselves.  One, we never know when a seed we plant will bear fruit. Two, we must think B I G and s t r e t c h the boundaries of what we think is possible.

It was a few days later that I remembered that Mary’s Way was published in much the same way. I’d written an article for a spiritual magazine. An editor at a publishing house saw the article, passed it around, and based on the reaction of her friends, called me at work and said, “Would you like to write a book?”

I think the third teaching from all of this: write what is yours to write, what you care about. And put it out there any way you can.