margot ruminates

This is the beginning of a new way of processing my life and ruminating on the mystery of God at work in the world.

Today is the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. It is the end of the summer and it has been a very busy summer.

I have been to Knoxville Tennessee for a mission trip, the outer banks for a family vacation, to Chautuaqua Institute for retreat and renewal, to Camp Christian for Advance conference and last weekend to Chicago for a wedding. Every experience has been wonderful in its own way and I have been so blessed by it all.

But now I sit in my family room doing that thing that I do to rest and regroup - watching Law and Order - and take a breath.

The life of ministry is - I think - different from many people's. There is first of all, the business of no weekends. When others are resting, we are gearing up for the big day. There is the challenge of work that bleeds over into the rest of my life. On one hand, in my head, I am often "working" when others think I am not. Thinking about the sermon, about projects, about issue....sometimes it seems like it never stops. There is the reality that the stuff of ministry - "God sightings" for a sermon, running into parishioners with problems can happen any time.
In my worst moments, I can get run down and feel depleted after a while. In my best moments, like today, I am grateful for the fulness of it all.

I remember one time in a sermon talking about having a "front row seat" to the way that God works in people's lives. Probably an overstatement. But surely I do get some glimpes of God's activity in people's lives. Ministers get to hear the stories about how people met, how they survived illnes, how they heard God's call in their lives. Those stories inspire me and keep me going sometimes. One thing I have learned in 20 some years of ministry - is that faith IS contagious. Our sharing our God stories can really make a difference.

And so, I guess this may be where I want to stop this first rumination. That must be what I want to do here. Have another venue for the God stories that are part of my daily life.
Share them and maybe somebody will share theirs with me.