Naomi Dawn Musch

I have to admit that I've always found that bit of Scripture to be a strange expression. Cast your bread upon the waters, and it will return to you after many days...huh? I picture soggy white blobs, bobbing in waves, lapping against a shoreline, while broods of seagulls hover overhead, wondering if it's really something edible.

Yet, despite my personal trouble with the metaphor, it remains an apt reminder that if we try at something, and keep trying, scattering our efforts out across the world, that they will lead to some type or reaping of reward in the end.

As I write this, I have three different manuscripts out for consideration by three different publishers. They may all come bouncing back, as is often the case. But I continue to "cast my bread" because of the hope that one day, rather than opening my email to a kind "Thanks, but no thanks" message, I'll receive a "We'd like to offer you a contract for the amazing piece you've written, sure to go down in history as a work of literature for the ages". Yeah. Well, I can dream. And pray.

Of course, scattering my bread crumbs might not mean publishing, necessarily. In fact, it usually doesn't. But that's not to say I haven't reaped rewards. Some of my rewards have turned up as

• critiques leading to a better manuscript
• contacts which have opened the doors to future submissions
• friendships via the internet that have improved both my life and my writing
• ideas for future stories
• knowing that God is trying to hone me for a future beyond the here and now (It's possible that I'll be widely published in eternity. After all, I really believe that there'll be good work for us to do in heaven, and that it probably won't involve harps.)

Casting my written bread upon the waters of publishing may seem futile at times, or like a good deal of effort. But, I'm convinced that I'm in training, and that I'll be in training until God takes me, even if I live to be 110, and even if I write a best-seller. It may take many days, or few, but all that effort is going to give some kind of a return. I just have to wait for it, and keep on casting.