with clear vision

Excellent day yesterday. Good things kept happening all over the place, despite a crazy day at the office, and I found myself continually astonished at the blessings that kept exploding all around me (exploding in a good way -- think, not backpack bomb, but one of those fast-forward minifilms of a forest moving from winter into spring: BOOM! flower! BOOM! baby birds!).

Among other excitements, the county in which I live has assembled a committee to select a poet laureate who will not only be a really great poet but help develop a program (with funding) for a greater appreciation of poetry and the arts. Applications are taken up to June 1, and I plan to have mine in as soon as they release the criteria on the county website. There's a little money in it, and talk about an amazing thing to put on a resume and on grad school applications. So it's only one county in one state of one country, but I call that an excellent start.

I also accepted a third job yesterday, grading English compositions for an online college, so I think my goal of paying off my debt in a year might actually be feasible. I get to work at my leisure, and from home or anywhere. An old, old friend referred me to the program, so I submitted my resume and a fabulous cover letter on Monday night, got an email back from the head of the department yesterday afternoon, spoke with her on the phone, and that was it. She’s sending me paperwork in the mail, I start training next week, and the week after that I should be grading.

The other tickler about this job, besides its nature and its potential as a good resume-padder (and its keepability upon such events as returning to grad school, which I plan to do in the fall of 2010) is that the online college is based out of Scranton, PA, so now I feel warmly connected to the good folks of The Office.

For the rest, I have a great decision lined up for execution as soon as possible, and I’m excited to enjoy my life for all it’s worth. Last night ended on a happy note, and I woke up in a chipper mood. Soon I will have more money in the bank, enough to pay my debts and tithe and save and still have some fun, I can live on my own again in approximately a year, and I have a direction. Opportunities are bursting open all around me, I’m intensely glad for the people in my life, I like my jobs, I’m writing again, I’m free and all my own, I am guided and loved by the true and living God, and just at the moment, all manner of thing is well.