Anniversaries are such odd days. I'm just bumping along doing my thing when I look at the calender and realize that one year ago this day I was in a much different place.
One year ago today I had ended my ministry as Associate Pastor at First Church. I remember being devastated as my position ended due to church budget cuts. It was a painful process to leave this church, especially around issues of severance pay (they didn't want to give me any) and tying up the loose ends to the particular ministries I lead. The last three months felt like one long drawn out fight, a fight to be dealt with justly, a continuous fight with the senior pastor who was trying to diminish the impact I made in the time I served there, and most especially a fight to not drown in the sadness of the grief being expressed by the congregation.
It was like I preached last Sunday:
John 16:20 Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. 21When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.
Grief is hard because the process is very much like a woman in labor. It felt like my emotions were out of control however what I learned is that on the other side of grief is transformation. Thanks be to God, I am in a much better place.
BTW, here are some garden pictures for your enjoyment!
My neighbor dog friend who likes to stop by and say hi on his walks.
The tomatoes seem to be doing well.
A little basil to go with the tomatoes.
A fine looking pepper plant
Beans beans the musical fruit, the more you eat....oops wrong kind of beans. ;)
1 comment:
I'm just so glad that you are in a better place now than you were last year.
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