When I was just a little girl, I loved Doris Day's signature song, "Que Será Será." (And those of you who know the song as well as I do, know what I just did there with my opening line!)
The lesson in Doris Day's song is the translation of the title:
"What will be, will be."
I idolized Doris Day.
She was so cute, so sweet. If I were to ever become a famous singer/actress
like she was, I wanted a similar reputation. But—que será será.
Like the first line in the song, I also wondered what I would be when I grew up. A teacher? A writer? A singer? Que será será, but I was willing to bet language would be a major part of my future.
Sixty years
later, I can look back on my life and see what came to be. I became all
three—just wasn't as famous as Doris Day!
While the song sticks
to a secular message of fate or destiny, I’ll take it a step further with
faith.
We are not in control of our lives.
We couldn't see what our future held when we were children. We can't see the future now. Not in our personal lives. Not in our professional lives. But unlike the song, we can trust that God is
in control and He knows our future.
I was a member of the ACFW Indiana board for several years, and I've had the
privilege of getting to know many of you, something that probably
wouldn't have happened if I had remained a member at large.
Some of you are in the prime of life, raising
children, eager to see how God uses the talents He has given you. Some are in
the autumn of your lives. I count myself among you. We deal with health issues and generational issues
as we watch the world and our families. Sometimes, our grown children crash and burn, and sometimes we have the joy of watching them thrive. But all
of us look forward to what is ahead in eternity. And that should be the message
to our readers. No matter the circumstances on earth, we have a Savior waiting for us, waiting to welcome us home.
In the meantime, how do we use our writing gifts to mine
for the jewels God buries in our lives?
Do we guide our characters into their future? Do we offer them hope?
In my YA books, my main character struggles
to do the right thing. She learns what is most important for eternity.
My women’s
fiction follows the same tensions. How can she make up for her sins? She can’t,
but God shows her the way out of the mess she created. Her faith has an
effect on what her family's future will be.
Que será será.
Some of us are highly successful in the writing world. Some
of us are still struggling for an agent’s attention. Others of us have chosen to step
away from the traditional and publish our work independently.Who knew that would
be a possibility thirty years ago? No matter how we seek to get our books into public view, we know God has called us to write.
Stay true to your calling, and...que será será.
Linda Sammaritan writes
realistic fiction, mostly for kids ages ten to fourteen. She has completed a middle grade trilogy, World Without Sound, based on her own experiences growing up with a
deaf sister. Book One, Reaching Into Silence, was a Carol Awards
semi-finalist, an ACFW Genesis Contest semi-finalist, and a First Impressions Finalist.
Linda
had always figured she’d teach teens and tweens until school authorities
presented her with a retirement wheelchair and rolled her out the door.
However, God changed those plans when He gave her a growing passion for writing
fiction. In May of 2016, she blew goodbye kisses to her students and dedicated
her work hours to becoming an author.
A
wife, mother of three, and grandmother to eight, Linda regales the youngest
grandchildren with “Nona Stories,” tales of her childhood. Maybe one day those
stories will be in picture books!
Where
Linda can be found on the web:
