The New Journey Into the Morning

In which our heroine begins to blog.

I've decided to blog during this time between calls. 

I am leaving my call at First Presbyterian Church in Kearney.  I don't have another call yet, but I do have six months severance.  I'm officially on staff until August 31, but I will be leaving on August 24 for some vacation.  The movers are arriving on the 24th to move the rest of my things to storage and then I am off to Omaha to participate in the wedding of a friend and to spend time with my family.

Through the generosity of some friends, I have the use of their beach house in Lincoln City, Oregon for a while.  So on or near Labor Day, I will be heading west, visiting friends in Nebraska, heading to Colorado for a soak in some hot springs and some fishing, then Lake Tahoe, Santa Rosa and San Francisco.   I'm invited to a SF Giants game on September 17 (Brewers, City College Night!)  Then on to Portland and Lincoln City.

This is not a blog about what went wrong, it is a blog about getting healthier.  I want to spend this time getting healthy, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  I want to lose the sixty pounds I've gained in the last three years.   It's a blog about looking for a new call, a new direction, to see how what the Holy Spirit has in mind. 

I've had a lot to grieve in the last few years.  I left a ministry I had loved for 12 years for one was back in my home state, but that lasted just over three years.  It was a stressful end.    My mother died after I was back for a year and a half and while I am grateful I was here for her during her last months and for my brothers and their families after her death, I still lost my first and best confidant and friend.  I recently ended a relationship that could not endure long distance.  My favorite seminary professor and my personal mentor died just ten days ago.

But this is not a blog about grief, it is a blog about joy.  I know that I can and will be happier.  I know that God has plans for me to serve in ways that may and probably will surprise me. 

The title from for this blog is from my favorite book, Willa Cather's, "Death Comes For the Archbishop."

"Something soft and wild and free, something that whispered to the ear on the pillow, lightened the heart, softly, softly picked the lock, slid the bolts, and released the prisoned spirit of man into the wind, into the blue and gold, into the morning, into the morning!"

Blessings