'Good courage' can provide strength

By: Judy Brandon

link Judy Brandon

Columnist

It was 1977, a few months after Buffy was born. Annie and John Scott had chicken pox, and Buffy was just beginning to break out with the same. Fever medication, ointment, little sleep at night and each new day seemed to offer only another lonely vigil.

On this particular day, I remember sitting at our kitchen table, feeling exhausted and sorry for myself. The house was a mess, and I had no energy to tackle it. Feeling overwhelmed, I sat at the kitchen table and sobbed. The thought of this daily, mundane routine just frustrated me. Besides, I didn’t want the children to be sick.

My life was far from what I had thought it would be. I had finished college and taught school for two years. My mental images of staying home were of moms and kids baking cookies in clean kitchens, and station wagons loaded with children and dogs headed for a romp in the park.

On that day, I had a good cry; then got out my old typewriter from the closet. With Buffy on my lap and Annie and John Scott watching Sesame Street, I began to type. I wrote a poem about a young mother trying just to keep up, all the while wondering if she were making any headway — at home or in life.

When finished, I read it again. To my surprise, it made sense.

Then I thought of magazines with articles, tips and advice giving ideas just for young mothers. I was familiar with the words, “unsolicited manuscripts will be considered if accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope.” So I decided to send my poem to them.

“They will never buy it,” I thought. But for some reason I was intent on sending the poem. I typed a letter, stamped an envelope and enclosed it with my poem to the magazine headquarters. A surge of energy swept over me and I was suddenly excited. I gathered up the children and headed for the nearest mailbox.

I can’t explain it to this day, but when I put that envelope in the mailbox, a change came over me. My outlook became positive. Once back home, I viewed my surroundings with a better perspective. I straightened the house, cooked dinner and read to the children.

Weeks passed before the mailman brought an envelope addressed to me in my own handwriting. I was prepared for rejection, but when I opened the letter, out fell a check for $8. The letter read:

“Congratulations, Mrs. Brandon. We have considered your poem and bought it for the amount enclosed. Your work will be published in two months.”

I was so excited, I squealed. I announced to the children that we would go for ice cream and we had a great time celebrating the $8 check.

But it meant much more to me than that. It was not the $8 but from that day on, I found the time to write each day. Years later, I can wallpaper a wall with rejection slips from magazines but some of my articles have sold.

Yet, the real rewards have been in another way. The day I cried in the kitchen was a turning point for me. I cannot explain what prompted me to get up and write and to do something to make my circumstances different. Abraham Maslow, the famous psychologist, might say it was “self-actualization.” Others might suspect I finally had gotten in touch with my “inner self.”

But I know differently. Psalm 31:24 reads: “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. That day at my kitchen table, the Lord strengthened my heart. He took me from a downtrodden state to seeing me through, helping me to put into words feelings that were deep in my heart. That is enough explanation for me.

Judy Brandon writes about faith for the Clovis News Journal. Contact her at:

[email protected]