With Great Rejoicing!

Welcome to my web log! (blog) I hope that these entries will give you a glimpse into my world and the spirit I bring to my ministry. I write new entries every couple of days, so check out the archives and check in again soon. Looking forward to meeting you in person…

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I must admit, I have not read the Jack Kornfield book after which this blog entry is named.  But I love the words he uses, indicating the intersection of the sacred and the mundane in our lives.  On Sunday morning April 13th, Andy and I prepared for a landmark day.  As we sat eating an ordinary breakfast, drinking ordinary old tea and coffee, Andy said, “Well, no big deal or anything about today.  Just a culmination of all you have been working towards for four years, maybe even your life.”  He looked at me with a smile and we both cracked up.  That spirit, that joie de vivre is sacred.

And so I was called to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers.  Wow!  What huge deal- tremendous, really.  And in the midst of the wildness and joy and extraordinariness was/is an even-keeled sense of normalcy.  It is as it should be. And I am most grateful.

Andy and I are now back in Chicago, seeing it all through different eyes.  I look at our furniture and dishes and see it all washed in Florida sunlight!  The challenge remains to stay here, in this place, for the few months we have left.  We aim to enjoy where we are and not project ourselves so far into the future that we do not have gratitude for the here and now.  And, indeed, Chicago springs are glorious.  Already I have sniffed the hyacinth and daffodil.  Soon more yellow will come with forsythia’s golden sprays.

And, of course, there is the laundry! After being gone for what feels like a month, it is time to play catch up with my academic work, colleagues, and friends.  Clean house, cook, exercise: time for the old, ordinary things that, in light of recent events, are made new and special.

I plan to keep the blog going, as a way to keep in touch.  I read and enjoy all of your comments.  And now it is a pleasure to have faces with the names!

Cheers,

Allison