Thunderstorm

Woke up this morning to the sound of thunder and the flashes of lightning outside of our open window. I closed the window, but couldn't fall back asleep. I almost felt it was disrespectful to God to ignore the immense display. So I quietly got up and I have been sitting in the living room in front of the sliding doors and just watching and listening.

It occurred to me how God is both mighty and gentle. His power and strength and fear is all demonstrated in the thunderstorm, and it's fairly terrifying. But my view is obstructed by trees, and those trees and all of their flimsy leaves catch the rain and slow it down so that someone below might not take the full brunt of the storm.

Last night Andy, our interim chaplain at Calvin who is also partly involved with Barnabas, was talking to someone else about Sabbath. This girl was growing a bit flustered because she was realizing how very little Sabbath she has in her life, but for me the word connected to some things that I'd intentionally be doing. I just hadn't recognized it as "daily Sabbaths," and though it's not quite to the point where my work punctuates my Sabbath, it's (literally) a relief to have some reprieve that I can give myself throughout the day.

I'm realizing quickly how necessary it is to really establish boundaries and keep an eye on my emotional and physical (and of course, spiritual) gauges. I'm trying to become tuned in with what activities drain me, to recognize when the burden is heavier, and to seek out ways to refresh myself. On Monday night, I had a conversation with a friend as we walked around and sat talking-- that definitely refreshed me after a long day of sitting. Last night all of us felt like it had been a long, tiring day, but what refreshed me was staying later after Kara's grace story and just laying on the floor with Nate and Colin just talking about random things like how to cook asparagus. I recognized that it was relaxing for me and really enjoyed being there with them and the others. It was a good transition from the rest of the busy day to going to bed early.

The storm has subsided, but it's still quite wet out. Because I went to bed at 10:30pm, I feel refreshed, and more apt to be centered and strong today. It was nice to be able to wake up and spend some time in quiet, too. God provides if we would only seek it out.

Today will be a good day-- although I can't believe it's already Wednesday! Wow! Today our team will finally be complete as Tim flies in this evening. We've also got time for worship tonight with the WAs, and I heard they've planned wiffleball for this afternoon! :)

I love this job. I know it's going to be hard and I know there will be times I don't like my job much, but I really love this job. Our mentors are just incredible, and the team blows me away with their openness and honesty. I've seen masks come off, the power of prayers, the healing of hearts through people's life stories. Input, output. God is good, and I'm seeing it every day through this group that I'm growing so close to. I never dreamed that my team would be this amazing. But then again, even as a dreamer I tend to underestimate ;)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

Betsy

PS. Had a good experience with that doxology. I actually led the singing of it to conclude a prayer that Nal asked me to close, and wow, that was definitely not in character. I'm so self conscious of my singing voice that it was a big thing for me to do that, but I did, and it was just beautiful when everyone joined in. Beautiful.