FF: Spring Forward

Jan has posted this week Friday Five. 

Whether we liked it or not, we all "sprang forward" with the change to daylight savings time in the USA this past Sunday. There is lightness and brightness slipping in as spring approaches, so let us consider what is springing forth in our lives right now.





Name 5 things that are springing forth, possibly including :

• what you hope for

I hope for our diocese to get through the legal problem with the schismatics so that we can get our property and our funds back and find some normalcy. I would like to have a part-time parish and know that the bishop wants to give me one when we get the parishes back. I know that I need a job. I need something to really focus on. I like the idea of being able to sleep late and read or surf all day, but God isn’t finished with me yet.

• what you dread

All of the above and the problems that will crop up when it happens. When the parishes return to us, there will still be disgruntled parishioners so the hard work will be to find a way to discuss the very painful issues that cause the split in the first place. For me it will be personal. I am EVERYTHING that they have been taught to fear as evil—female, lesbian and a faithful Christian.

• what you observe

The world has moved on in the area of LGBT issues. It is very interesting how much has happened in the US re. LGBT rights just in the past year. The loss of so many young people to suicide raised the consciousness of many as well as so many people in visible places coming out to claim that life gets better. I have even been asked to do sensitivity training with the local fire and police personel.  Go figure!

• what is concrete

I have never thought of life as being concrete. Very little in my life is not flexible and changeable. And I think that as one who has been sent, that is how my life should be. The only thing that I see as something that is a constant is my faith. Everything else revolves around that. Somewhere I made that ‘carry no knapsack’ image of faith an important part of who I am. I just wish my roommate felt the same. 8>D



• what is intangible

The root word of ‘intangible’ is ‘touch’. This morning I am looking out on a day that is supposed to be in the 80’s. The Texas wind is blowing the poplars in my neighbor’s yard with abandon. The warmth that we longed for before we moved here is making itself known. The morning doves hoot so loud here that it can be annoying and the cats run around chasing leaves. I cannot grasp my life here—it is intangible. But I am ‘touched’ by it. I am touched by a diocese that has been ‘rent asunder’ which is vital and faithful. I am touched also by the warmth of acceptance I have received since I returned to my hometown that I fled so long ago. I am touched by waves of nostalgia that come as recall events of my childhood and teen years. And while my life is not concrete—it is not intangible. God has touched me, and that is all that is important.



I will be away this weekend, and so I promise to check in with you all on Sunday evening!