Moving On

I started this blog as a way to process elimination of my position as the Respect Life Coordinator at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. I certainly have had my ups and downs in trying to deal with the shock, separation, feeling of betrayal and anger. I have enjoyed writing this blog and others seem to enjoy reading it. 

The thing is - for every bump in my life - I know God has brought me through to healing.  Sometimes that healing has taken years as when my infant son died of SIDS and sometimes a situation changes and it is more easy to move on. 

Most all of the time I would say that everyone is healing, growing and moving on.   

We are on the cusp of Christmas and as I celebrate the coming of the Christ child and his new(renewed) life.  I realize it is time for me to renew my life also.

The hurts and pain and dysfunction of my old place of work is still there but I need to enter into the next phase of what God's plan is for me.  The reality is that moving on and transition is messy.  As I contemplate the manger scene this Christmas I realize that Christ came into a messy place.  It certainly wasn't perfect, being born into a place full of manure, hay and stinky animals.  Mary had diapers to change too.  Life is messy but into this messiness - love was born.  And so it needs to be with my own heart.   

I have accepted a position teaching middle school religion at Bethlehem Academy Catholic High School here in Faribault. It is a temporary long term sub position and I am not sure if teaching is where I am called to be long term but I hope that being with these young people will help me remember the enthusiasm and trust I once felt so freely. It is probably no coincidence that God has led me (at least for now) to a place called Bethlehem. 

In my discernment of the last few months I also found a call to continue to speak  and write on Catholic topics especially topics that deal with healing.  I think this blog has been a good start on speaking honestly about the healing process and God's hand in it.  I will launch the website soon.

I will be continuing to blog but under a new title - Glorified Wounds. I came up with the title invoking the image of St. Thomas probing the wounds of Christ before he could believe. It has always puzzled me why Christ returned after the resurrection with wounds on his glorified body.  He didn't need them, but others needed to see them to believe.  In this way his wounds were no longer shameful, they became a source of hope and faith for others. We all have wounds and sometimes we get stuck in the pain of our wounds, but if we can see God's work in our pain we can live our lives with joy and without shame. 

Life is all about learning and loving and I plan to keep doing both. 


I want to thank everyone who has been encouraging me and reading my blog.  Please follow my new blog.  http://glorifiedwounds.blogspot.com/2014/12/i-am-starting-new-blog.html

Your prayers have been essential. 


I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and look for more about me in the New Year!

The Power of &

The power of &

I am in a bit of an identity crisis.

When you get laid off and are unemployed you have a hard time answering questions. "What do you do?" used to be an easy question to answer. "I am the Respect Life Coordinator at the Archdiocese." It was a nice little box and easy to fit into.

Now I am not sure what to say.  I am unemployed, but that does not define who I am or what I do.

A few years ago I started writing regularly for the Catholic Spirit.  I remember getting my first paycheck for writing.  The pay from freelance writing is nothing I can pay the mortgage with, but I felt I could at least say out loud - "I am a writer!" but even now I feel like a fraud saying it. It doesn't seem legitimate unless it comes with an insurance package and a 401k.

Brene Brown - One of my favorite authors speaks of this in her book "The Gifts of Imperfection.  In it she talks about how people are afraid to claim their work.  She relays speaking to  the woman she purchased jewelry from online.  She asked her how long she had been a jeweler. The woman brushed it off and said. "I wish. I am a CPA. I'm not a real jeweler."  Brene encourages people to see themselves as more than their title from the job they get paid at. Of course she is a real jewelry maker. She was wearing the earrings she made!  The author uses slashes when describing this claiming.  Writer/plumber, singer/lawyer, teacher/playwright, etc., but I like to use an ampersand and have come to believe in the power of &. 

After reading her book I started trying to refer to myself as a Freelance Writer & Respect Life Coordinator. It has taken me a while to feel comfortable in it and it still occasionally feels like I can't claim it unless the majority of my salary comes from it. 

In looking for new employment, one needs to assess what you did for your previous work and revamp it to showcase what you can do for a potential employer.  So instead of identifying with the title of my last job I need to focus on my skills.  It was then I really found the power of &. 

I am an author & activist & teacher & communications and marketing specialist & event planer & visionary & manager & counselor & retreat leader & spiritual mentor & evangelist & ... I am also a mother & wife & child of God & friend.

I have always liked that little symbol.  Sitting right above the 7. Lucky seven maybe. We should use it more!

Challenge for today.  

Try on an & in your life.  See how many you can string together and own all the &'s in your life and career.  Maybe I need to add Ampersand Motivator to my list of &'s. 

Looking to the Future

I haven't written for a while. I have been busy with the work of finding out what I want to be when I grow up.

I am at a strange place in my career. I have decisions to make.  Do I look for work in the Catholic world? The secular world? Can I make a go at freelancing? Do I want to commute or stay close to home?

This stage of being out of work includes:

Networking
Job Seeking
Soul Searching

My first career aspirations were to become an astronaut.   Growing up in the 1960's and early 70's was filled with the excitement of the space race.  I watched intently during the first and subsequent moon landings. I vaguely remember Apollo 8's Christmas Eve television broadcast and the crew's reading from the Book of Genesis.

Here is a transcript of what was read.

Bill Anders
"We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.
'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
‘And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
‘And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
‘And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.'"
Jim Lovell
"‘And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
‘And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
‘And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
‘And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.’"
Frank Borman
"'And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
‘And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.'
And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

Beautiful.

Those ideals of being an astronaut left me in my teen years. There were no female astronauts at that time and I was told one needed an aptitude for math and physics. That was something I did not have.

Years later I was privileged to tour the NASA facility when at a Pro-Life Conference in Houston. It was so exciting seeing the control room that was referred to in the infamous words of Apollo 13 astronaut John Swigert, Jr.. "Houston, we've had a problem here."


As I discern my next career move I suppose I have to cross astronaut off the list. :(

Sharon at the Houston NASA Facility