I'm moving slowly today. I've got a church bulletin to finish and some finishing touches to add to Sunday's sermon. As you may know, I am the church secretary so the bulletin is only produced if I make it and print it.
I've joined a group blog http://planettelex.bur.st/lentblog/index.php?paged=2 for Lent. I'm pleased to be included and you can be too if you'll contact the directors through the blog. I've posted once on the word press blog and have no clue if I did it correctly. If it didn't work, nothing much is lost as I only introduced myself and said I had nothing to say. Whoa! I'm one hot blogger! But, if I have nothing to say I'll say nothing.
Having announced myself as slow, nothing to say and empty-headed this morning, I will be away for the first part of the week attending a retreat with clergy on theology and Bible. I'm happy to be going out of town for a few days and assume I'll find whatever the retreat offers interesting. I've been home and in a bore of ordinary days for weeks now (since Christmas) and will enjoy a change.
I celebrate the idea of ordinary days where clothes are clean and put away, meals prepared and served with as much fan-fare as a Mom can offer and where children know where I am and what I'm doing. This ordinary life of ours provides our children with constancy and predictability. Bores the dickens out of me but is a good discipline for someone with as many interests as I have to live a measured, ordered life. I had years of ricocheting around before we had children so I'm ready to provide our children with an ordinary life. This constancy provides them with security so that they can begin to ricochet knowing I'm available if needed.
My feelings get hurt from time to time when I hear my children describe my life although I know they do not know all I do and how much time I spend while they are at school doing things which I THINK are exciting.
But, I remind myself that there is a value for them in testing out their new maturity while thinking I'm the most boring mom in the world. They don't see me as a pastor because they attend church school and worship with the LH at his nearby church while I drive an hour to my congregation. They don't know the network of community contacts I maintain because I seldom mention my community work. It's ok. I'm not bored with myself although I do anticipate having a splurge of freedom driving away to the retreat. If you hear whooping and hollering early next week, it is I beating the side of my car as I drive away. I think I'll speed away, actually.
What's going on with you?
2 comments:
We're moving slowly here, too, on our second consecutive snow day. My 9-year-old daughter never got dressed yesterday, and she's still in her pjs today, too.
My kids see a lot of me in my pastoral role. Recently my also-9-year-old niece asked me what I do besides leading worship; I gave her a pretty detailed description and she answered with some surprise, "You don't just work on Sundays!"
When I told my daughter, she gave a rueful laugh.
My oldest son who was 11 when I came to know Jesus saw me as a drunken, drug addicted, abused, and abusive Mom. My 3 children at home now, born of a new seed, never knew that woman of which I am so grateful. I am oh, so content to be their predictable, stable Mom.
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