Four Jobs. Lots of Work. I'm Loving It!

Whew! My life is at warp-speed again. So much to do. I'm grateful, though, that I seem to be sailing through it all. Last year, if I'd had all this in front of me, I think I'd have been stressed out.

Perhaps the working-out is helping. Plus, I'm taking Juice-Plus, which also seems to be giving me more energy (I've never really liked veggies, and this stuff is suppose to be freeze-dried immediately after it's picked off the vine so it retains its nutrients.) Plus, I'm seeing an acupuncturist, mostly for the carpal tunnel on my right hand, but she's also treating me for weight loss, same price. We'll see.

I've been planning Lent for about a month, and now here it is! Brochures are made--I did one for all the activities, one for Centering Prayer, and one for Walking the Labyrinth. Love the creativity involved in making these brochures. Publisher makes it easy and almost fullproof, but gives enough variety that I feel the brochures are really something I've created.

Ministry is such a difficult thing. I hear it from many of my clients and of course I've witnessed and experienced it myself. So many who are called to ministry are feeling-types who'll just give and give and give and give until there's nothing left. Their efforts often go unappreciated (or at least the appreciation is unexpressed), they often have no friends outside the church /seminary / hospital, and they have big demands and responsibilities at home as well. Then it's so easy to feel overwhelmed, then you're close to burnout.

But the rewards are so incredible. I look out my office window and see this beautiful Welcome Garden. We have a labyrinth in it, an oak tree in the middle filled with wind chimes, new plants and flowers that will soon burst into colorful bloom, lovely benches for just meditating. It's truly lovely.

Yesterday morning I spent a couple of hours meeting with two women who are directors of church-related agencies in town. I've known both of them for two or three years now. We are planning a series of events--we're calling them Elephant in the Room Events--which will hopefully be held at my church through our Wellness Ministry, that will address some of the most difficult issues in our culture today: childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, mental illness, childhood grief and grief from suicide. As the three of us sat and planned yesterday, we all started to feel the excitement of it. Palpable. It is truly exciting to be able to work toward something so good, and so important. I love it.

Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour doing some premarital counseling. Again, what an incredile joy! This couple is especially fun because they have a good level of self-awareness going on already. Imagine that! At 24 years old! :-) I'm impressed and just feel so privileged to help them engage their awarenesses in an even deeper way.

Last night we had a Cabinet meeting before our Lenten Ash Wednesday service. And it was a fun meeting! Imagine THAT! :-) We're all concerned about whether we'll have to cut salaries again, but in the midst of that, these folks were lighthearted and not making it a doom-and-gloom thing. And I think they all wanted to be there; they didn't come out of duty but because their church is important to them and they love it. Wow.

Today I get a little break (I could be working on the prospectus for my class, but I'll do that tomorrow and Saturday), before seeing a couple of clients at my satellite office. And then tomorrow I get to be at HeartPaths, the organization that trains spiritual directors and at which I'm adjunct 'faculty.' I'll love that as well.

Four jobs. Lots and lots of work to do. I'm loving it!