The Single Woman’s Dash of Sass: For Every Good Friday, There is an Easter Sunday

Quote of the Day:

“Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.” ~Fulton J. Sheen

The Single Woman Says:

Several years ago, before I was a columnist, a PR person, or The Single Woman…I was a television producer. TV was my first great love, and it’s what I went to school to do. I adored everything about it, knew inherently what it took to create a powerful and compelling television story, and refused to listen to anyone when they told me I would never make it in the business. As a result of my persistence and passion, I landed a job as an associate producer at the ABC affiliate station here in Nashville right out of college before moving on to CMT – Country Music Television – where I freelance produced for a weekly entertainment news show that still airs on CMT to this day.

I loved everything about the job and I excelled at it. I felt like I had truly found my calling, my niche. What I quickly realized I DIDN’T excel at was “playing the game,” i.e. being cutthroat, two-faced, and self-serving, in order to climb the ladder. Unfortunately, a great deal of what you hear about the nature of the TV business is true, or at least it seemed so in my experience. Almost from Day 1 of starting at CMT, I was teased daily about my habit of wearing heels (“We’re going to have to break you of that habit!”), dressing nice (Pretty much everyone else wore jeans and slouchy clothes every day, while I liked to wear cute dresses), and having guy friends (“Boys are always sniffing around your cubicle!”) I had no patience for drama and backstabbing, so I stayed out of the fray and refused to “drink the Kool-Aid” and blend in, even when it would have made my life easier. Ultimately, after a series of very painful and eye-opening events, my position was cut and I was laid off, only to discover that a week later a girl who had betrayed me and double-crossed me was sitting at my desk, in my position.

After that, it seemed my TV dreams were over. I applied for other television jobs but nothing ever came of it. The industry in Nashville dried up quite a bit, and it became evident that it was time to release my television aspirations back to God and move on. So I did…finding myself first in public relations, then eventually creating The Single Woman. I am a big believer in signs, and it has seemed over the past few years that all the signs in my life were pointing me away from TV and onto a different path. Sometimes in life, we are required to release our biggest dreams to realize our biggest potential. And that was never made more evident to me than when TV came back to me over the past couple of weeks in a way FAR bigger than anything I ever dared to imagine for myself. Being a part of the Oprah’s Lifeclass experience and getting to watch the show taped live, view the inner workings of the creation of the show, and meet the panelists has been a dream come true for someone with a producer’s heart, like me. And though I was required to let TV go many years ago, my willingness to do so without trying to cling to a season that had already passed put me in the position for that dream to be resurrected, bigger and better than anything that had come before. Beyond that, I had the great pleasure of witnessing the cohesive behind-the-scenes camaraderie of the wonderful team at OWN, and it restored my faith in the TV industry. Everything I had buried so long ago was brought back to life in a way that only God can do, healing the wounds from my hurtful TV past and reminding me that the desires of our heart CAN come true, often when we least expect it.

I tell you this story to let you know that even the dreams you buried the deepest are capable of being resurrected in the grandest ways. If ever there was a weekend to resurrect all those dreams you buried so long ago…this is it. Sometimes life requires us to surrender our plans to realize our greater purpose, but know this: From the dirt of our past buried dreams can rise the most beautiful, unexpected, life-restoring flowers of our future. Never doubt or lose hope in the desires of your heart, even when they seem light years away from coming true. There IS a greater plan at work. On the other side of every Good Friday surrender, there is an Easter Sunday celebration.