Hope

Source: None via Alle on Pinterest

"For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Acts 8:24-25

I am getting my anchor tattoo today. The anchor is a symbol of hope and I am holding onto hope, but I must confess I am really resonating with hope being unseen.

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." Hebrews 6:19

Happy Friday

No More Questions! from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

I think this video is sweet and I love Story Corps. It might not be your typical Happy Friday moment, but it makes me grateful for my grandma, and that makes me happy.

Dear Grandma,

Please live forever.

I love you.

Sarah

Cinco De Mayo

Source: onecharmingparty.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Source: dana-made-it.com via Regina on Pinterest

Source: foodnetwork.com via Elliott on Pinterest

One of these years I am going to host a killer Cinco De Mayo Party... this year I am just going to post ideas about it.

Learning How to Stay

Source: etsy.com via Victoria on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Emily on Pinterest

I have received mail in 6 states; I went to different school almost every year of elementary; and this summer my time in San Francisco will make it the second longest I have lived anywhere. I am living in one of the most transient cities in the U.S. and it is almost as long as I have lived anywhere. It is kind of crazy and has me struggling with a bit of an urge to move. You see I am not accustomed to roots. I had anticipated a career that had me traveling, instead I found one that is developing within me a deep sense of community and place, and I love it.

While I was in Paris I knew San Francisco was home, because I actually missed it, and I knew my job was my vocation because I wanted to return to it. Still, somehow within a few weeks of returning to San Francisco the wanderlust was already re-awakening. I am hitting my marker for moving on. I have the itch to leave, but I am committing to stay.

I will talk about Austin, Houston and Denton as amazing options. I will day dream about a back yard and calm hours at coffee shops, I might even sneak over to hang out with my friends in the burbs just to get a hint of it, but right now and for a few more years, I know that my life is here, and I am going to learn how to stay.

Once upon a field in Oxford

While I was in Oxford I had the joy of a long walk through a rather large field on my way to a fabulous pub. While walking with Suz and Rach we chatted about the roles of women in leadership all over the world and how religious systems often attempt to set limits on their roles. Than we came upon a group of horses and we paused.

I think this might have been one of my absolute favorite moments of the trip. We had been having fabulous conversation, and we continued to after the horses, but we still had a chance to stop and engage with a beautiful intense powerful animal. I loved it.

We laughed as the horses tried to eat my camera and my sweater. We pet them and tried not to get stepped on.

I love that they were roaming freely. Seeing them run was like something out of movie. I was inspired and awed by their power, beauty, and honestly their awkwardness - I mean really how long does it take to figure out the you cannot eat my camera?



side note: I finally uploaded by pics from my camera - so there will be many more photo posts.

Music Monday

I was at this show and I am excited that they named the song.

Creative Ministry (thoughts on the first few chapters)

Today was a rare sunny day in San Francisco. Clearly this left me no choice but to sit in the sun and read (and nap). My dear friend's Chris and Christine loaned me Creative Ministry a few weeks ago and I am reading it slowly. I am reading it slowly because despite its simple and direct nature (as all thing by Nouwen are) it has a depth to it that I am hoping I can let sink in.

It is written with the assertion that all of us are ministers. I am just at the beginning and I feel challenged and encouraged. The first few chapters break down the way we teach and resist teaching/learning. It is my hope that I can learn how to trust learning. To trust what happens when I am vulnerable enough to face myself in the learning process and stop competing with others and start learning from them.

I feel that I was blessed in my seminary experience, in that it was often the case that I learned from my fellow students as much as from my teachers and I did not feel that it was a competition. Nonetheless, post academia I often let myself slip into competing to prove what I know and in that I fail to learn.

I am just at the beginning of the book. I am hopeful that this book, like much of Nouwen's work, will help shape me into the minister I hope to become.