Sometimes Life Catches You By Surprise

Sometimes Life Catches Us By Surprise......

Today is the last day of the school year (finally, in this virus extended season), and I have been reflecting on how the year has felt, how it feels to be approaching semi-retirement, and how I have reached this place in my life.  

So, yesterday, I thought I would try writing a blog again as part of this process.  I really would like it to be another place that I keep track of what I am reading and thinking, since the virus season has been a deeply successful reading time for me--I know that has not been true for everyone. I decided to reactivate Blogger and take a look at my past blogs and then decide what to do.  This necessitated a long detour into how to find my blogs again, but I am so glad I went through that process because I found such interesting things.

First, my CPC blog about Johannesburg is in there--one of the defining experiences of my life and one of the sustained writing experiences of which I am most proud.  Sometimes I will admit that I don't look back at it because I miss the mountain-top-ness of that experience so much.  Then, I found this blog, which I had somewhat forgotten,  It is from two years ago, and, as I looked at it again, it truly caught me by surprise.

I started writing at that time because I was struggling with finding a sprititual home after coming back to Wisconsin, and I was also struggling to find fulfilling work and happiness.  In many ways I was unmoored.  We were also going through another painful spasm of the never-ending agony of racial pain.  I was so struck by the two enries I wrote and by the title of the blog as a whole.  Life has done such odd things in the meantime.

The first post from the blog has a picture of Tamarack High School, most recently Clara Mohammed High School, and I actually mention CMS in the post.  I did not remember that at all.  Who would know that CMS would be the true community I have found and would have helped to give me a deeper appreciation and understanding of all God's strength and glory.  

I was also struck by the title of the blog--Today I Worship.  I can not quibble with that at all--in fact, finding my Methodist/Muslim community has made me more aware than ever that every day is suffused with worship and the glory of God.  That is why Muslims pray five times a day--we are always conected and reminded of our place with God.

So, I have made a decision that I will not start a new blog.  I am going to build off of what I  started.  I am feeling very good about that decision.