So, it’s that time of the week again. Well. . . actually . . . yesterday was that time of the week. It’s now 1:00 in the morning in California and before I head off to sleep, I thought I’d try my hand at this week’s prompt from Lisa-Jo. You know the drill – 5 minutes of free-writing, no editing, just write. There are a couple of hundred of us who do this and you can actually do it every single week. Except I haven’t been doing it very regularly for a while and I miss it. So. . . today, I’m gonna give it a shot.
Our sanctuary last Ash Wednesday. I start work again just in time to lead this service.
Am I ready?
The prompt is: AGAIN
GO:
Am I ready for this? I’m not at all sure. I said ‘yes’ because I care about the people who asked me to help. I did not say ‘yes’ because I’ve been craving more to do. That’s been the most interesting part of retirement for me: I do not miss my job. I miss some of the people I worked with and some of the people I worked for (meaning members of the congregation that I don’t see as often as I once did), but I do not miss the job itself.
I thought I would miss it terribly, yes I did.
Because I loved it when I did it – I was called to it and I knew it. But then. . . that last year, when the decision was prayerfully made, I also knew that the call was shifting. And though I wasn’t completely ready for the feelings of displacement that happened in the first few months, I was ready to stop working.
And then I began to do spiritual direction more earnestly. And then I began writing on this crazy blog. And then I met some amazing people. And then I discovered the call wasn’t gone, it was just changing direction. And now I had this strange and wonderful parish of friends and acquaintances, many of whom I’ve never seen ‘in the flesh,’ some of whom live halfway around the world — and voila! I just did not miss my job.
And now, I’m heading back into it — fewer hours per week and only for three months while the Senior Pastor is on sabbatical.
So, the question is: am I ready to do this again?
STOP
