2019: The Year in Review

Last January, I attended the Prospective Student Conference at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and knew that I had found home.  When I returned to Minnesota, I quickly finished up all the materials and sent in my application for the Fall 2019 semester. 

Early in the year, I was part of a thresholds group at church, where I made my first mask.  This mask launched an art project and spiritual practice that took me deeper than I ever expected: “Eat Chocolate.  Make Art.”  I’ve also done a lot of other art exploring my calling.  

Continued making plans to move to Idaho. Gave notice at all my jobs.  I’ll be moving in late August or September of 2020.

Mom remarried in June and I was able to go to Idaho and spend some time with her and other family.  

Ruth Palmer retired, and Ahmed started as Director of Music Ministries at Unity Church-Unitarian.  I’ve learned so much from both of them that I know will show up in my future work. 

I started seminary in the fall.  I knew I would have to let go of some of my work to be able to do the school stuff.  I quit my Community Ed Voice Lessons job.  I cut back one day at Eastview. And I let go of some of the groups and activities at church that I loved.  But still,  it’s hard to get everything done.  I love what I’m learning, so I keep making adjustments to other things in my life to make it work. 

As part of a class for seminary, I am volunteering at The Open Door Pantry in Eagan.  It is an amazing food pantry where the focus is on fresh and healthy foods.  For my birthday, I asked friends to help me make a donation of at least 50 items.  We went way beyond that.  

Work and seminary meant that I didn’t get much written for NaNoWriMo this year.  I didn’t even go to the website.  I did spend a couple of days digging into the pieces that need to be filled in a bit in a series I’ve been working on since 2003.   The main structure is there now.  I’m not sure if it will ever get published, but I told the story I needed to tell.  These characters have helped me work through and process so much.  

Christmas 2019 marked the 3rd Christmas without Dad, and the first with Barry.  My gluten-free, dairy-free rice dish was a hit.  Santa Claus filled the stockings.  And I ate too many things that I shouldn’t have, but enjoyed them all.

I spent New Year’s Eve reading and preparing for discussions for a seminary class.  I know.  My life is so exciting!  But really, it is.  Things are moving quickly in exactly the direction that I need to be going.  I can’t wait to see what this year brings!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goals, Resolutions, and Mission: An Evolution

I read somewhere recently about how many of us struggle with goals because of how we approach them.  I know that for me, goals were heavily influenced “should” statements.  They were things that to a large extent were externally driven, things that I thought I needed to do and be because of the way I interacted with my culture. It’s not that I wasn’t taught how to set goals.  Mormons are big on goals overall, and I spent over 6 years from the age of 12-18 specifically setting and working on goals in a church program for young women called “Personal Progress.”  But goals weren’t enough for me to make the kind of progress I really needed. Take for example these goals that I found recently. Based on a few items included on the list, I assume these were set sometime between 1998 and 2000.  I’m also including some information about how I did with those goals. 5 year goals Begin concert career—Didn’t happen.   Full-time job with benefits—Nope Or enou...
Read more

True Listening

A friend asked some wonderful questions yesterday on Facebook. This morning, I took the time to answer.  Because this topic is so important to the mission of Gossamer Threads, I decided to share it here as well.   Lori wrote: " If you are so inclined to contemplate, I'd love to know your thoughts. Three-part question: 1. What does it mean to truly listen to another human being? 2. Have the majority of us ever properly learned how? When it comes to deeply-held belief differences, (politics, religion, football, music, etc) in conflict (in conflict is the key here) I am pretty sure the answer to #2 is no. I am being realistic (not pessimistic?). However. 3. Are there ways to listen, understand, empathize, and respect other deeply held beliefs when they are in direct conflict with yours? If so, what are those ways? Definition of key terms in this context: Listening: different than hearing. Listening is an active process where the listener makes a conscious decisi...
Read more

Spiritual Practice

This post was shared originally on the Exploring Sainthood blog (which no longer exists).  In this time of uncertainty and fear, spiritual practices can sustain us.  If you're not a religious person and the word "spiritual" doesn't feel right to you, think of this as deep and grounding self-care.  Use what works for you and leave the rest. I'm hoping to write a part 2 for this soon, sharing more ideas and the kinds of spiritual practice I'm engaging in right now. ______________ As I’ve mentioned before, one the blessings of attending a Unitarian Universalist church this last year has been the opportunity to get a broader perspective. The most interesting part is that I’m learning that my previously narrow views of what it meant to be Mormon and do things the Mormon way might not have been completely accurate. One of the responsibilities of membership at Unity Church-Unitarian is this: Cultivate a spiritual practice.  Attend to your spiritual/person...
Read more