Before the dawn

The full moon had chased the shadows behind the trees — Nighttime had turned to day.  The normally inky black sky nearly looked blue. A young button buck munched on fresh clover along the side of the two-lane Mississippi highway.  An old Chevrolet truck crested the hill and stopped, causing the deer to bolt into the woods. A sleepy worker pulled over, killed his headlights and got out of the cab. The stunning view ahead of him always took his breath away: The full glory of the Mississippi Delta was illuminated and laid out before him.  It was 4 a.m. and the world had momentarily achieved peace.

He pulled out his Thermos.  He poured another cup of strong, black coffee and just sat on the hood of his truck. The warmth from the engine felt good on the cool morning. The Delta had been painted with a cool shade of midnight blue.  The painter Bill Dunlap could not have painted a more amazing landscape. A light breeze tickled his beard as he took another sip of the life-giving elixir. He felt its warmth heat up his soul. He was heading home from job number three. It had been yet another long night of doing menial work on the night shift.  . His body was about to fully revolt — He knew he needed some sleep. But this was too amazing to miss.  The moment before dawn.  The moment before even the birds began to sing.  Peace.  He filled his lungs with the cool air.

He thought of the quote from George Washington Carver, “Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.”  A shooting star carved a scar across the western sky. He made a wish and smiled. He knew how wishes came true. Hard work. Dreams achieved. Attitude.

He had been discounted his whole life. His teachers said he was too stupid for college. His coaches said he was too little and slow to play ball. His college professors said he’d never amount to anything. Some people would have folded under that kind of disbelief. He thought of the boss who had laid him off. She had not believed in his talent. He said to her as he walked out of her office, “There’s a long line of people who underestimated me. Watch me.”

He had been an executive at the local mill. He had worked very had to earn that promotion. But the world changes and jobs go to China.  He didn’t change as fast as the world and got caught up in the vortex of layoffs. But he didn’t quit. He didn’t feel sorry for himself. Nope, he did what his grandparents had done during the Great Depression: He got to work. He took an online course to learn to write. He found a couple of jobs to keep food on the table. That’s why he was sitting on the hood of his truck.  He was taking a moment to count his blessings. It was that moment of appreciation that powered him through the tough moments.

The old proverb said, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”  Not today. Not now. Not in his life. The full moon saw to that. And so did his attitude.

A car buzzed by him and plunged down the hill into the bowl of the Delta.  He took another sip of his coffee and then screwed the lid back on the Thermos. In his truck was a laptop.  He pulled it out and started writing.  Being a Mississippian, he had the amazing gift of being a storyteller.  No, he thought, being a Mississippian means you have GREAT stories to tell.  He started writing another short story.

Little did he know that he’d be a successful author in five years.  Little did he know that this was just a temporary rough patch in his life. He just had to keep pushing the devil. To get through what he perceived to be hard times.  Five years from now he’d understand that this part of his life was God pushing him out of his comfort zone. That He was just giving him some good stories to tell.

His face glowed from the laptop as he described the miraculous scene before him. The Delta produced amazing crops. It produced the Blues. And now it was about to produce another amazing Mississippi literary talent.  As he looked west toward the Mississippi River, a second shooting star streaked across the western sky. Little did the man know that this was a sign that his first wish was about to come true.

His success was as imminent as the coming sunrise. Like the Delta before him, he was about to produce a fertile crop. He looked out at the blue-tinted land before him and said, “Thanks be to God.” And then he got to work.