Sabbatical

It's not much fun to blog when so many people are prevented from leaving comments  by some Blogger glitch.

I'm going to take that as a sign that it's time for a break.  I'm working on a number of other writing projects right now, so maybe this lull is just the nudge I need to focus elsewhere for awhile. 

This photograph is captioned in my files as Last Sunrise.  I know that it's from St. Augustine; I'm guessing that the year was 2008, when none of the kids were available and The Quiet Husband and I went down for a week on our own.

Enjoy!

Nearly New Friday Five

Over at RevGals, Sally writes:

A simple Friday Five for a busy part of the year; indulge me by sharing two fives:

As you look back over 2011 share 5 blessings; they can be as grand or as simple as you like; if your year has been like mine, they are probably a mixture!

As you look towards 2012 share 5 hopes- again, anything goes!

(Yeah, I went on to six.) 

B-L-E-S-S-I-N-G-S

1.  Ordination on October 30,

2. A congregation which stuck with me despite my diagnosis of breast cancer just as I was called ("It never occurred to us to do otherwise," one of the call committee members told me a couple of weeks ago),

3.  A husband, children, friends, and readers who have stuck with me through the good, the bad, and the ugly (and there have been a lot of the last two!),

4. A son and a daughter whose resilience and strength are getting them through law school and grad school in excellent shape,

5. Their studies in Russia and Guatemala and our family trips to Florida and North Carolina, all of them signs of the slow healing we are experiencing where we can, and


6. My week on retreat at Wernersville!

H-O-P-E-S

1. Mostly, I hope that all the members of my family who are alive today will be alive a year from now.  But also,

2.  I hope that my daughter graduates and finds employment,

3. I hope that my son hangs onto his scholarship for his third year of law school,

4.  I hope that my mother-in-law recovers quickly and fully from her holiday heart surgery,

5.  I hope that my congregation thrives, and, oh yeah . . .

6.  I so hope that the day comes soon when I never have to see the inside of a hospital as a patient again!



Image: Our Nightly Cedar Key (FL) Sunset a year ago.

Summer, Miscellaneous

Overheard conversation between two young women walking through Target: "I think that happened the summer before I got interested in boys.  The last summer that I was truly happy."

*****

"Excuse me; what are you doing?"  Question from woman across street, standing in her doorway, as I attempt to use my keys to open her car.  A red car parked across the street; that's what I see.  My son, standing in our doorway: "Mom, didn't you notice a difference between your red Corolla and her red Mercedes?"

They looked the same to me.

*****

Waiting waiting waiting for the new Marty Laird book to arrive.  At least two friends have theirs; mine hasn't even shipped.  Amazon could not have made a worse choice for a delay ~  in the sense that I won't forget this one.

*****

I have had a brief email exchange with a couple of seminary professors about expanding my call search.  From one of them: "Seriously consider a bold move."  I'm not sure whether sending my stuff to Florida was bold or reckless.  But summer has suddenly gotten more interesting!

Blogging Break

Despite having had a major experience of God's consolation over the past several days, my everyday life is one of deep discouragement.  It's filled with frustrations: the lack of employment means that much around the house that we had to neglect during my seminary years remains undone; the profusion of rain and cold means that the yard looks as if no one has lived here in a decade; my double vision means that almost everything I attempt takes twice as long as it should and that I have to depend entirely on others for transportation.

The hardest thing is the empty hole where the call process should be. RevGals today optimistically and joyfully  addresses the process for those just graduating from seminary.  It's been a year since I graduated, six months since I was certified ready to receive a call, and . . .  nada.  I remember how incredibly excited I was about the future on both of those occasions, but now I find myself baffled and bewildered.  I'm not alone; my best friend from seminary,  a remarkably gifted and accomplished woman, remains call-less, and I keep hearing stories of folks two and three years out, still hoping.  There is one church possibility at the moment for which I am both optimistic and enthusiastic, but possibility remains the key word there.

It's not as if I have nothing to do.  In fact, I have begun to receive enough invitations for spiritual direction, retreat work,  teaching, and community work that I am even more uncertain:  How is it that my own church can't come up with work for me, when other people and organizations and institutions seem interested in my contributions? and:  Am I being called into something else entirely? 

Among the many non-pastor items on my plate are a couple of writing projects which may turn into something.  And so I'm going to step back from blogging for awhile and head down that path with as much focus and discipline as I can muster.  I'll still be reading, and I have book reviews to post, but I'm going to start limiting my online time , dramatically, effective . . . NOW.

Image: Path through Atsena Otie, a tiny island off Cedar Key, Florida