Tumultuous Joy

As some of you are aware, I have redressed my interest in graduate school and have intimated my interest to the local university of Eastern Washington U. Though my application process was arduous, I directed myself to that process with fervor and excitement. The program I am applying for (Creative Writing) holds particular interest to me since the writing sample--a collection of the student's previous work--is the key element in the application. Its quality (or lack of) determines the student's admission.
Just today, not more than a few hours prior, I received a letter of acceptance from EWU's graduate office. Some of you can appreciate my satisfaction at such news. This letter arrives at a critical juncture for myself--and my family. At present, I am working at Starbucks with an eye for more profitable employ. My prospects lessen as my intentions, for I am developing a stronger sense of what life I would prefer, what endeavors I deem worthy to apply myself. There is only one way to put the question. What then is my God-given endeavor?
It remains the same. To pursue the talents that my Lord has provided and to do the work He has there given me to do. Therefore, I pursue graduate school as it affords me the opportunity to exercise my fiction talents as well as my teaching talents. Though the acceptance letter, here photographed, mentions no word to the Teaching Assistantship I have applied for, I am confident such an appointment will be made. My application, after all, explicitly intertwined my interest in graduate school with the Teaching Assistantship they offer to students interested in teaching undergraduate students.
I must say I am pleased with these turns of events. My primary glee comes from the satisfaction of being chosen. Their election was based on the writing sample I provided--which I felt none too confident at the time putting together. The writing sample was a handful of my popular pieces (an elongated The Color Green and Vengeance) combined with some of my award-winning stories (A Hero's Life, as revised with Dan Peterson's help, and a fairly new story called An Expecting Couple, written long before Lynné and I were wed and expecting). The selection process was based entirely on two professors and their endorsement of my writing. Thus goes the compliment, that two professors of English Composition found my work worthy, not just to publish or post, to recommend its author to study under their prestigious university. The compliment does not go unnoticed, but is consequently deferred. Who but the Lord guides the reading eyes of those holding my writing? Who but the Lord chooses the life of His servant? And who but the Lord would deign His servant worthy of tending and growing this most mysterious gift? None, I tell you.
So please, this fifteenth of March or whenever you read this, share in my smiles. Stand upside-down.