Gratitude November 13

Today I'm grateful for the people who join me for spiritual "direction" - companionship, listening, reflection.  Many years ago my discovery of my monastic vocation coincided with hearing the call to be with others in this way.  For years, though, it didn't manifest.  I got some training, then got diverted into studying for the priesthood.  People came, then left.  I never felt like this ministry was developing, and I started to think I had been mistaken in my sense of call.

A few years ago I let go of some of my baggage around not being enough for this ministry.  Then, in the past year, as I stopped fighting my contemplative vocation (and some other things), suddenly people showed up.   The other day I realized I'm doing what I so wanted to do.  I think I had a lot of my own work to do before I could be available in the way others need, and I think it must show that I've been doing it.

I am so grateful that these people are with me: people earnestly searching for God, whether they are newcomers to that search or long-time journeyers.  I see what they are doing in the world, the difference they are making, and I'm grateful to be part of their journey.  I believe that part of my vocation is "equipping the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:12), and it brings me joy to see that happen.

Thank you to all my mentors and directors over the years, and to all of you for your varied ministries.  God bless you today.

For what are you grateful today?

Gratitude November 12

Today I'm grateful for commitment.  I will attend worship today among two communities where commitment to God is evident.  In the morning I'm going to the Church of the Ascension in West Park NY, our landlords.  They are celebrating their 175th anniversary, and seven people are being confirmed.  We had the delight of meeting with the confirmands last month, sharing about monastic life and our vocational journeys, and now we get to see them continue on theirs.  Their commitment is made possible by the commitment of their church community.  This small parish, which has combined in the past with another parish and is now yoked to another parish through a shared priest, continues to serve the community and to worship together.  They aren't failing, or struggling; they are just small, a typical rural parish.  Together they honor God and serve others, week in and week out.  Thank you.

Then for Vespers we will go to Holy Cross Monastery, where Peter Pearson is making his novice clothing.  He's been with the brothers since May, and now he commits to continue learning and discerning this path.  It takes courage and faith to leave one's career and familiar place and jump in with a bunch of semi-strangers, to be known by them and put up with them - and know they are putting up with you!  So Peter, blessings and thanks.  Thanks for being a man of courage and faith and commitment.

And thank you to all of you, for all the ways your commitments keep the world moving.  Whether it's family or friends or ministry of any kind, your commitment makes all the difference.  Pray that we may all have the grace to stand firm and clear with the gifts God gives us.

For what are you grateful today?

Gratitude November 11

I feel like a broken record, but here goes.

I'm grateful for, and grateful to, our Coffee Table Communion crew.  Yesterday they stayed after, not for tea and conversation like most weeks, but to put together a mailing that is going out soon.  We still got time together, but it was like a quilting bee.  Hands were moving while people shared, and so we shared in a way different than when we just sit and listen to one another.  It was wonderful to know we have partners in ministry.  So thank you to Laurel and Anne and Joan and Cathy and Ferris.

The broken record part is that this exercise is making me aware of how much of my gratitude relates to the people in my life.  Every day people show up in different ways.  Some show up as partners in ministry.  Some show up as supporters or co-conspirators.  Some show up as people seeking spiritual direction or nourishment or transformation.  Some show up as family or friends.  But so many people!  I'm used to thinking of myself as apart or disconnected, but that's another life.  In this life I've got more companions than I can count, or honor adequately.

I am grateful for all of you.

How many images can I find of friends who make God present and active?

For what are you grateful today?

Gratitude November 10

Yesterday was a good day.  I began the day with energy, both mental and physical.  It was a day at home, a day I had planned to spend with a friend until he got sick.  So I made soup, and insulated windows, and did laundry.  I dusted.  Elizabeth and I worked on our retreats and talks for next month in Cincinnati, where we will be at the Cathedral for two weeks.  We got ideas for leading our upcoming covenant groups, and creating closure for the ones that are ending.  And still there was time with a directee, time listening for God working in him.  A good day.

I'm grateful for the mind that lets me think, and the mouth that lets me speak.  I'm grateful for the arms and legs and fingers that enable me to maintain our house and nourish our bodies.  I'm grateful for the ears and the heart to hear God in another person.  I'm grateful to be.

For what are you grateful?

Gratitude November 9

Wait, I missed yesterday!  I thought I posted.  I usually write in the morning, or try to, but yesterday I was at the food pantry and then came home to various meetings.  My apologies.

So, today I'm grateful for yesterday.  I'm grateful for the staff at Ulster County Community College who learned about the pantry and are bringing students to it.  So many students don't have access to food on campus, and they don't know the pantry is there.  Thank you, Lynn and Stephanie, for advertising and for enabling students to have healthy food while studying.

And today I'm grateful, as I have been for so many days, for the love of Christ.  I've been drawn lately into a deeper desire to pray - or a desire to pray more deeply - and a growing sense of God's love and presence and mystery.   As the dark grows outside, as fall turns toward winter, I'm more turned toward the light of Christ.  Our chapel is cold in this season, but Jesus is there making it warm in spirit.  So that's where I want to be.  I'm grateful beyond words for this life that lets me be there.

For what are you grateful today?

Gratitude November 7

Today I'm grateful for my community.  I am at the end of my rope with several tasks today - finding health insurance for next year, preparing a document for printing - and in each case I have a companion who is there with technical expertise, or simply the perseverance and stubbornness to keep going when I want to give up.  I'm grateful for Elizabeth, and Sarah.  Thank you.

This morning I read that the road to salvation is simply to keep doing the daily things, and speak only kindness.  I make it so complicated and strenuous sometimes, I'm grateful for the reminder that the simple, right things are what the world is made of.   I am frustrated with these issues today, but they don't have to make me part of someone else's hard day.  As I write, I release my frustration to God and breathe in gratitude.  I will have health insurance, somehow; the letter will get printed.  And I will pray for those who do not have decent health care, or access to computers that drive them crazy!

For what are you grateful today?

Gratitude November 6

Wow, where do I start?

I'm grateful for my friends, our friends, the friends of the Companions.  Yesterday we had an open house, a housewarming I guess, to celebrate being in this new place.  People from various parts of our lives came and met and shared the blessing of this house and this community.  For the second day in a row, I was overwhelmed by the amazing people in my life.  How did this happen?  For many years I was so closed off to the beauty of the world, the beauty of other people, that such people and their gifts just didn't show up as part of my world.  Now they're everywhere.  I know they aren't different.  I let love into my life, and it flooded in.

I'm also grateful for one more day of warm weather, a morning I could go for a walk without a jacket and then sit on the deck and watch the river.  The cold is coming, but not today.  I will still go for walks in the cold, and likely still sit on the deck, but it will be different.  Today is today.  I'm grateful for the ability to cherish this.

What are you grateful for?