I went today to pick up Joe and his family from Logan airport. They are just returning from vacation in South Carolina at Joe’s mother’s house.
It has been a week and a half of working on the gardens and while everything is growing well, I feel like I have hardly pushed back the walls of the forest at all.
I did manage to mow a few paths through the bushes and I widened this path to the brook. I was hoping for more, but I suppose that was not realistic.
As July 4 approaches, there are lots of things blooming at the Vicarage
The second wave of lilies is beginning, even as the first wave has almost gone by. I have enough varieties now to get me through most of the summer.
The second variety of hosta is also beginning to flower.
I also have two stands of Queen Anne’s Lace putting in an appearance.
I have some baby tomatoes on the vine
And the eggplant is flowering.
I have been picking black raspberries for the last three days.
And the forest is filled with sumac berries
I will be spending July 4 in the garden when I am not grilling. What are you doing this weekend?
I suppose everyone has had their moment of seeking fame and glory. When I was young and immature I think I wanted fame out of a lack of my own self worth. As I have grown more comfortable in my own skin, I have realized I don’t need the recognition of other men to validate who I am. At least most times that is true.
2. Have you met any celebrities?
Hmmm. I suppose if you count….No. No I haven’t.
3. Has anyone ever asked you for your autograph?
Only in a year book or in a high school play bill.
4. Is there a celebrity you wish to have met/meet?
Not really. I enjoy meeting people as people not as their mythology. If I were to meet someone famous I would hope I would be more concerned about their personhood than I would be about any notoriety I might gain from being in their presence.
MY WEEKLY GRATITUDE… Is that I got to go dinner with my cousins Karen and Mike yesterday.
About two months ago Amanda rescued an owl from an unkindness of ravens that was trying to kill it (an unkindness is a group of ravens that gather around here. They often group to attack birds of prey).
Animal control came and collected the poor creature which was in shock and had a broken wing.
Yesterday just before church Amanda got the call that the bird was healed and ready to be released back into the wild. We were asked if we wanted to observe the release so at 4:30 in the afternoon we were at the church to watch the event.
The little fellow looked a little nervous, but with a bit of encouragement he was able to leave the box and go back to his home.
This is a busy week at the Vicarage. Today started with some special visitors.
We hadn’t had the Franklin family out to the Vicarage since Christmas Daniella really enjoyed walking the grounds and watching the animals.Daniella loved playing with Francine‘s cat. Francine is what she calls Amanda. Since we probably won’t see her again before her second birthday, we decided to hold her birthday party today. She and great grandma even sat together for a little bit.
So I haven’t posted here in a while. The skinny is that I have been keeping myself busy with distractions. Well, at least they are distractions now. You know how it is. Yesterday’s priorities can easily become today’s distractions.
A few months ago God told me He was going to be shifting my focus and that I would be entering a new season of life. In December He clarified that a bit with these words which have become my words for the year :“Shift focus to wonder.”
I guess I didn’t anticipate how hard it was going to be to shift my focus and to begin to concentrate on the new priorities God has given me. I also didn’t realize how much I have allowed other people to make decisions about what the important things in my life are. God warned me that people wouldn’t understand.
When Mom’s health took a turn, I understood that as the gateway to the changes. Everyone has been so supportive. It has been arranged that I should work more from home. Things have been put in place to make all that possible. Everything should be going so smoothly but I can’t seem to adjust to this new rhythm I am called to. The problem is me you see. I am finding it hard to say “No” to the things I used to say “Yes” to. I am having trouble giving up my freedom to use my time however I want to.
I was chatting with my boss the other day and telling him how I would love to join a certain committee in town, but that I really need to be careful of my commitments now. It made me kind of sad and yet at the same time felt like destiny was being unleashed.
I understand this is an exercise in crucifixion, a dying of a part of me that has to die. Yet I miss this free part of myself everyday and so I keep resurrecting it.
I know I must decrease so that He might increase. I must surrender my plans so that His plans might be accomplished, but honestly I really loved my plans. And here’s the other thing. People don’t understand. They have gotten used to me following a certain pathway and being a certain way and pursuing life a certain way. I have revealed to them intrinsically over years…even decades that I consider my ministry to be a certain way and they don’t yet know that the ministry plan has changed. The world around me can do nothing else but encourage me to keep going after the same old plan. They don’t fully see that God has made a change and that a new plan exists for me…for the church.
My sister asked me the other day how she could help me make this adjustment and I honestly don’t know. I have to get the new rhythm myself before I can play it for others. I think my time with my Son and Daughter-in-law in the Philippines really began to clarify for me the size of the change which was upon me. I understand now it is going to take me a little while to figure it all out. I think I am becoming better every day with understanding and implementing the changes.
Here are two things I know:
My changes are just a part of a much larger change God is bringing to our church.
Watch out world! Once I figure out this new rhythm I feel like a new level of effectiveness and achievement is going to kick in quickly, not just for me but for all the people God is moving me out of the way to release into their proper places.
Notes From the Vicarage 