A Light In The Darkness

In the excitement of the Advent and Christmas Season may each of us see a Light that fills us with peace as we await  the coming of Jesus' birth.

What Inspired Me (Part 2)?

 Redemptorist Renewal Center

I was a little down at the reality of retirement, saying goodbye to all those years with one employer, plus all the friends I had met and grown to love, walking the halls everyday! I discovered that even though there can be a silver lining in retirement, it is still an adjustment.

 I really didn't know what I would do, didn't know what I'd like to do.  I figured I'd just wander around aimlessly and something would hit me over the head, like it had the three years before I fell in love with healthcare and went into nursing.

I prayed but my prayer was a bit lackluster, dry, arid. I felt prickly, just like a cactus.  God was on the sidelines.  I knew He was around but I didn't have a whole lot to say to Him at the time...didn't have a lot to say to many people at that time.  I did talk with a couple of individuals, one being my own spiritual director. No advice, no "shoulds", just listened to my tears, fears and even gratitudes.   It felt like life was coming at me from many directions and I was doing all I could do to simply be in the game of life without much of anything else. It was not an easy time and this continued for longer than I would like to admit.  Sometimes in the middle of a compost heap of life it is hard to figure out what's going to come of it and being in this compost heap sometimes got me all heated up, worked up and messed up.  All I could do was be where I was.

So, I just took one day at a time, remembering what someone once said, "the sun will set and the sun will rise again!"  And so, the sun set and rose everyday after that and I wasn't the one in charge. I was simply going to bed and getting up the next day.  I didn't try to "push the envelope" but continued to "do the next right thing."  It was all HARD WORK!!

What Inspired Me (Part 1)?

Spiritual Direction? You might ask, "what ever inspired you to do that?"
Well, it's not something I ever came up with on my own, believe me!  I was very happy as a staff chaplain for 23 yrs. at a local medical center.  I had done nursing for18 yrs. prior to that.  I said I would "never retire" because I loved my ministry as a chaplain, however, life took some twists and turns.

With these twists and turns retirement then became part of my plan so Dec. 3, 2012 I retired from 43 yrs. in healthcare. I had nothing on my "dance card" at that point except to spend time with my husband who had some health concerns. My main reply to those who asked, "what are you going to do in retirement?" was to simply say that I planned to "waste a couple of months and then take a nap"!

A cohort, then proposed the idea of going to the Hesychia Spiritual Direction School in Tucson, AZ, for my certificate as a spiritual director. I balked at that. November was upon me and the next training began in Feb. 2013, which I thought was quite presumptuous to assume I could get in the program in this short of time. So I continued to put John off but he gently persisted. To get him off my back I finally sat down, Dec. 27, 2012 and spent all day completing the application!

The application was quite lengthy, quite personal and it took much more time than I had wished. I really had better things to do that day like get out of town and head to our cabin in Crivitz, WI where we were going to celebrate New Year's with friends.  I sealed the envelope thinking nothing more about the process...I just knew I would not be accepted for this next term!!  I simply applied not wanting to sabotage myself, just in case!

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday 2014

Well, I'm a day late to wish all of you Happy Thanksgiving but it's still Black Friday, so happy Black Friday.  Due to technical difficulties beyond my control,...

I'll spare the details, this is my first real blog since my first "hello".  There will be more to come so stay tuned.

There is much to be thankful for this year and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am very grateful for family, friends and cuddle duds!! There is also no need for mosquito dope plus the pollen count has only one direction it can go!!

Tomorrow is another day in the life of a blogger...so, again, stay tuned and there will be more!