Sunday's Friday Five

Over at RevGalBlogPals,  we've been asked for  our " thoughts on that movement from darkness to light.  Tell us five ways in which you are anticipating, or your life is moving towards light, joy, hope--new things:  new ideas,  new hobbies, new people...and so on."


Here are my five thoughts, albeit a bit late.

1. It is finally beginning to be spring here in northern New England.  Despite the remaining piles of snow, the signs of new growth are unmistakable.  The chorus of birds at dawn is another indication that new life is coming.

2.  My burden of worry is lighter.   Both of my sons have landed on their feet after some rocky times.  Elder Son's job was eliminated two days before Christmas, and he has been unemployed since then.  Last week he was offered a "temporary-to-permanent" job in the field he was looking.  For now it's short term, but he's been told that if he works out, it will become a permanent job.  They are offering him full benefits too.  Younger Son also had a job transition that occurred quite suddenly.  He has made a significant vertical move with another company, also in his field, but for a time he was in job limbo.  His former company had immediately let him go, when he told them he had been offered a new position.  He hadn't signed the contract yet for the new company, so we were all a bit worried.  He had been trying to "do the right thing" by letting his very small company know that he was thinking of accepting the offer so that there could be some transition time.  (He was 1/3 of his office!).  


3.  At work, vacation is coming!   One more week of slogging, and then a blessed week of recharging.    


4.  Again, at work, there is light at the end of the long, dark tunnel I've been in for the past few years.  It looks as though I will finally be able to go back to the grade level AND the subjects for which I'm best suited and best-trained.  Nothing is set in stone yet, but all signs are promising. 


5.  Inwardly, I am starting to feel some new stirrings of hope.  For quite a while I've felt like those dry bones in the valley.  I have not felt nurtured or fed.  I started this Lenten season by trying to follow a prayer discipline.   I've struggled with the prescribed program, but have found that even though most of the "program" did not resonate with me, the wrestling with the program did.  This past week especially I've been recognizing "messages" or reminders  almost every where I go.  One of my students wore a tee shirt to school earlier this week .  I can't remember the entire text (front and back of the shirt), but the big print said : God loves you - Fall in love with him." At the very bottom of the t shirt's back it said "Read Matthew 22:34-40"    These are the verses entitled "The Greatest Commandment" in my RSV Bible.    That same afternoon, as I headed into our Wellness Center for my water aerobics class, this bumper sticker caught my eye:  There's no way to peace,  Peace is the Way.   I had been reading John 14 that morning, and there was  Jesus " I am the way . . ."  So hope and new life are stirring within and without.