Friends

I have amazing friends. Sometimes I let myself get so wrapped up in my own drama that I forget what beautiful and truly grace-filled people are in my life. I'm trying not to take them for granted. Thank you for your friendship, love, support, prayers and laughter! If I can be half the friend that you all are to me, I think I'll be doing OK.

Labyrinth Part 2

Yesterday after church we took the 9th grade Confirmation class on a field trip to a labyrinth about 30 miles south of town. The setting was lovely, and we didn't get snowed or rained on (both of which were possibilities), so that was a plus. The students seemed to enjoy the outing, and I don't think I've ever seen them that quiet for that long. It took over a half an hour to walk the entire labyrinth and they were silent the whole time. All in all it was a good trip, I think, except for this: The kids were well behaved, but I felt totally immature the whole time. I understand the concept of a labyrinth, and I enjoyed being out and walking in a beautiful setting, but I had a hard time feeling anything meaningful during my walk. It didn't help that I had the fish slapping song from Spamelot stuck in my head. Plus, every time I would pass someone going the other way on the path, I really wanted to do high-fives, and I kept thinking of sarcastic things to comment upon. All of this was in my own head, of course, but I felt bad for not being more into the experience. Oh well. Maybe next time. Kudos to the kids, though!

Sigh

I got to church at 9:00 this morning. I realize that this is late compared to some jobs, but it's not like I strolled in at noon and left for the day at 2:00 or some such craziness. Anyhoo, I walk in the front door and immediately one of our old guys says to me, "some of us have already put in a full day's work." (We have men's breakfast at 6:30 on Wednesday mornings.) At first I was speechless, I felt like I stared at him for a full 5 minutes with my mouth hanging open. It was probably only 2 or 3 seconds, it just felt longer, until I said, "some of us were here until 8:00 last night." I know there are better ways to respond to statements like that, but that's what popped out. Sigh. Someday I'll learn the more tactful response. It would be more hopeful to think that someday those comments will stop coming, but I'm not confident that's going to happen.

Horoscope

Sadly, this is true of most of my life, not just something I have to worry about on this particular week...

aries (Mar. 21st-Apr. 20th)You might want to carry some gum around with you for the next couple days. You’re going to need it to wash the dirty-sneaker taste out of your mouth when you really stick your foot in it this week.

Sleeping In

I woke up this morning and my first thought was that it seemed awfully light in my room. I rolled over and looked at the clock and it was 6:40. I'd planned on leaving the house at 6:45. I have a definite memory of setting my alarm last night, having the conversation in my head of what time I needed to leave, so what time I would need to get up. Clearly, though, I didn't turn the alarm on after setting it. So, the morning started with lots of swearing and a giant adrenaline rush. I wasn't late for church, but I hate starting the morning in a rush like that, it throws me off. Despite the start, the morning was good. I felt energized and I thought worship went well. After 2nd service I spent a couple of hours hanging out and giggling with some friends (who are part of my "sort of" family). All in all it was a good day.

Pastors' Conference

These aren't great pictures, but I snapped them from the door of our room at the pastor's conference I spent most of last week attending. It didn't snow the entire time we were there, but it snowed almost a foot the first night, and most of it stuck around the whole time. I was sooo not thrilled by this last showing of winter at our post-Easter retreat. And it was COLD and I was whiny. :-) Other than that, the conference was good. I got to soak in the hot springs a lot, and I was actually social and had some good conversations with colleagues. I'm home now, and it was warm and sunny when I got here, so maybe we'll enjoy some spring weather after all.

Yoga

This is totally random, but it makes me happy, so I have to share. One of the women in my yoga class is one of the sweetest people I know. She's always got a smile and she's a very positive balance to some of the negative voices in this place. She's in her 70's and comes faithfully to yoga every week. All of that is wonderful, but what especially makes me smile every Friday is that she wears polyester pants and a turtleneck to do yoga. So very cute...

The Good, the Bad, and the

OK, I don't actually have another adjective for the last 18 hours or so. Maybe you all can help me out on that one.

The good: Last night I treated myself to a hair cut (OK, just my usual scheduled time, not really a treat), a manicure, a pedicure, and a facial. Oh, and I also got my eyebrows waxed, but that was also my regularly scheduled time. I love my stylist. She's funny and fun and she does a great job. We had a fabulous time hanging out last night and laughing hysterically over totally random things. And my toes and fingers are all pretty. I feel like such a girl. :-) I know I'm going to chip my manicure at any moment now because I'm not careful about it, but it's a very subtle, pale (but shiny!) color, so hopefully it won't be terribly noticeable. It was a fabulous mid-Holy Week, pre-birthday treat, and I'm really glad I did it.

And now the bad: Really it's just a lot of stress. Some of it is HW related, others not. I got in this morning to a very frustrated (for good reason) office manager. She started yelling the f word at me. Not so much at me, actually, more toward me as she vented. We also found a piece of paper left in the copy machine containing the page from the constitution talking about changes in a pastor's call, or working through the synod to remove a pastor. The page was headed, "Discernment Committee Members: please read in preparation for our next meeting." More than a little unnerving. This all comes after yesterday when SP told me it might be a good idea to submit my mobility paperwork "just in case." There have been other things this morning. Little things, but they're adding up to make for a rather stressful morning.

Counseling

I did a session of premarital counseling with a young couple yesterday. They're getting married in May, but I'm not doing the wedding, just the premarital stuff since the pastor who's marrying them is flying out from Michigan. Anyway, we spent an hour chatting, and they seem like a lovely couple. I always find this part of my job somewhat ironic. First of all, we call it counseling, but it isn't exactly. I'm certainly not trained to provide any kind of therapy or counseling of that nature. We use a premarital inventory that is a good jumping off point, and I find it helpful, but there are moments when I think, what on earth am I doing? I've never been married, I'm not allowed to cohabitate (I love that word, btw), and I suck at relationships in general. So there we are, talking about conflict resolution and communication, etc., and I'm thinking, "wow, I feel like such a hypocrite!" On a different note, I also wonder if I'm too naive for these kinds of things. Yes, I know, most often I come across as cynical and sarcastic, but for the most part I tend to take people at face value. This seems like a nice, well-adjusted couple with good heads on their shoulders. For all I know they could be raving sociopaths. OK, hopefully I'd get some vibes if that were the case, but it's one more thing I wonder about as I do these sessions--are these people just making stuff up that they think I want to hear?

Whatever. In happy news, the sun has finally decided to grace us with its presence! It's been gorgeous since Sunday, and I've been loving every minute of it! It's a little overcast today, but still supposed to be in the upper 50's, so I can't complain. And I'm wearing fabulous shoes approximately the color of this font, and a happy yellow jacket to help celebrate spring!

Friday Five--Pre Holy Week

Holy Week is almost upon us, I suspect that ordained or not, other revgal/pals calendars look a bit like mine, FULL, FULL, FULL........

Jesus was great at teaching us to take time out, even in that last week, right up to Maundy Thursday he withdrew, John's gospel tells us he hid! He hid not because he was afraid, but because he knew that he needed physical, mental and spiritual strength to get through...

So faced with a busy week:


1. What restores you physically?
Chocolate! Oh wait, not until Lent is over. :-) No, really--yoga or a good walk, remembering to get up and move around on days where I sit at my computer too much.

2. What strengthens you emotionally/ mentally?
A good book (I especially have to read right before going to sleep), giggling or talking with friends, watching a movie, working on the last 3 (of 8) baby presents I still need to finish crocheting.

3. What encourages you spiritually?
Talking with friends, especially colleagues, prayer during yoga, and this week, walking the labyrinth we built in the sanctuary (too bad we have to dismantle it tomorrow).

4. Share a favourite poem or piece of music from the coming week.
I think Ah, Holy Jesus is my favorite hymn for this week. I just feel calm and centered when I hear it.

5.There may be many services for you to attend/ lead over the next week, which one are you most looking forward to and why? If there aren't do you have a favourite day in Holy week if so which one is it?
This year I'm particularly looking forward to Wednesday, as I'm treating myself to a pre-birthday facial and mani/pedi. I've always like the Good Friday service, even as a kid, which struck my family as slightly odd. This year we're doing a Stations of the Cross service, and I'm really hoping it goes well since I was in charge of putting it together...

Labyrinth

Here are some pictures of the labyrinth we built in the sanctuary. We had a good turn-out tonight, and almost everyone walked it at some point in the service. Good way to celebrate the last mid-week Lenten service this year.