Good Day

It's been a good day for me.

I haven't been able to say that for awhile to say the least!

Today, I got up crazy early (4:16am to be exact) and left Elgin, IL for McPherson, KS.  The getting up early was not necessarily the good part.  The good part was that I was able to sleep the entire first flight from Midway to Atlanta and then doze from Atlanta to Wichita.  

Oh and while I was at the airport I spent some time browsing through books which I love to do so that made me quite happy.  Another part of the good day.

Then, when I landed in Wichita I had no idea who was going to be picking me up, but it was Jan Hurst whom I have known for several years now since my time in Westminster, MD, and we had a fabulous lunch at a Chinese restaurant complete with great conversation.  Another excellent part of the good day.

We made it to McPherson without a problem and I was able to set up my display and the simplicity of the design and the new look I gave my temporary display made me really happy. It is inviting and open for people to come to if they choose.  It's different from the other displays we've been using in the past.  Somewhat simpler.  I like it.  And it added to my good day!

And THEN tonight I had several great phone conversations tonight with several good friends and my dad!  I was able to talk to one of my best friends, Annie, whose wedding I was just in to see how she's doing now that she's Mrs. Smith to the world.  And then since I was wandering around the McPherson College campus and stumbled on a mens soccer game I decided to call my dad and I was on the phone with him for 10 minutes!  That's like a record!  (Love you Daddy!)  And then after that I called my good friend Amber and we chatted for awhile talking about plans for this upcoming weekend which was fun.  Then I briefly talked with a friend from college, Chase, who I had lost touch with for awhile, so it's really great that we're reconnecting again!  All of these conversations put me in a great mood!  So good!

And tonight I look some time with Jan to look over some of my favorite artsy pictures that I've taken over the past few years.  Not only am I proud of some of them, but they bring back many great memories!  More goodness!

I just hope that I didn't use all my goodness in one day.  But it is noted in the record books that today was a good day.

That is all.

Something New

So I have started trying something new to help me to relax and calm down a bit. The past three mornings while I've been getting ready I've been listening to songs and prayers from the Taize Community. I was looking through the music on my iPod and I had forgotten that those chants and songs were there. I learned about Taize last year after attending several Taize based worship services here at the office so it is a relatively new type of prayer to me.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Taize:
"Singing is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short songs, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. Using just a few words they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually penetrates the whole being. Meditative singing thus becomes a way of listening to God. It allows everyone to take part in a time of prayer together and to remain together in attentive waiting on God, without having to fix the length of time too exactly." (www.taize.fr)

This meditative aspect is what resonates with me. Singing the same words over and over again helps to clear my mind and refreshes me. Often times the words are in a different language and typically songs are sung in a canon.

So yeah, I think this is the start of something good for me. There is a lot going on in my life these days so it's nice to have something that helps to relax and soothe me at the beginning of the day. We'll see how it goes!

Forward Motion

Here I am for one of the first times in awhile sitting at home on a Saturday, just having gotten back from playing Ultimate Frisbee and wasting time before going to a dinner at church and I'm exhausted. I have no energy to be doing anything other than sitting. I don't really want to talk to anyone. When people ask me questions, I can't bring myself to answer them. I need a time to rest and rejuvenate myself and I'm not quite sure when that is going to happen. My life is always going in a forward motion and I just don't know how to make it slow down if not stop entirely.

There's never enough time to do everything that I find myself wanting to do and yet on the other hand there's never time to just stop everything. There's always a football game to try to get to or a soccer game to try to support my youth. There's church related events to go to and church itself. There is everything at work that keeps me on my toes traveling from one place to the next. There's trying to hang out with people who I haven't had time to see in months or really spend some quality time with such as my adopted family from church, or co-workers, or friends in general. There just isn't time for it all.

And it's not even as though I'm trying to make time for it all, it's just I'm really exhausted right now and while the end is in sight it isn't here yet. You'd think that I'd be able to enjoy my weekend, but instead it's been filled up with all sorts of things. Which, truth be told is probably my own fault. I'm known for packing every little thing possible into a day or into a trip as possible. I think I need to take some lessons on just being instead of trying to fit everything in possible...any suggestions?

As a random side note I have found myself cleaning my life up a little bit. Not in any serious ways really, but trying to clean up the clutter that is my life these days. You know, thinking to myself 'well I don't really need that anymore' and so I decide to get rid of it if it's possible!

October

I'm sitting in my office in Elgin wondering where the time has gone and what it is that I've been doing this month! I find it hard to believe that it we are getting close to the end of yet another month. I have found myself all over the country since October began, traveling for work and for fun. This latest trip had me back in the Valley for a week followed by a few days in Boston.

Let me tell you, it was so great to be back in the Valley at home for a few days. I am really enjoying my time out here in Elgin (and everywhere else I end up!), but when I get to go home it makes me extremely happy! And to be there for the first time in three years during the fall was a real treat. A good friend of mine, Jerry, came down to visit for a few days and we were able to enjoy the beautiful weather and head up into the Skyline Drive and go hiking and enjoy the scenery for an afternoon.

The week was also spent helping one of my best friends, Annie, get ready for her wedding! It was an aboslutely beautiful day, perfect for a fall wedding. The church where the wedding was is out in the country set atop a hill with mountains in the backdrop. There were so many rich and beautiful colors, reds and oranges, in the trees and flowers. The sky was a beautiful blue with white puffy clouds. Absolutely georgous. The perfect day for a wedding.

From there I went to Boston for a Volunteers Exploring Vocation event where about 45 former volunteers were brought in to spend three days together listening to professors speak about their calling and how they life their lives. We also were led in sessions by John Bell from the Iona Community in Scotland. It was a whirlwind of a trip that has led to even more questioning than I already had. But I will say that while I am questioning my faith and what my life will bring I have come to a point where I need to 'be' for awhile and work to live my life as it is. Many of the former volunteers left our time in Boston energized with a new sense of hope. I left Boston exhausted; emotionally, physically, and mentally.

I'm beginning to think more and more about the possibility of doing a different form of service at some point. One where I will be interacting with people and creating relationships and doing a more of a hands on service than what I'm doing now. Who knows what my future might bring my way!