When I was a kid the night before the first day of school
was full of anxiety. It was one of the
few nights I had a hard time sleeping because I was excited and anxious and
nervous all at once. I’m not really
feeling it tonight. I’m as prepared as I
think I can be. I don’t know what to
expect from this semester, but I do know that my internship will be an amazing
experience. I’m looking forward to
serving at the altar, to learning about the altar guild and all the terminology
and theology and spirituality of that ministry, to meeting people and getting
to know them better, to getting valuable feedback from a team of lay leaders
from the church, to attending staff meetings and to have weekly meetings with
the priest. There is a class attached to
the internship where I’ll learn generic information about “running” a
church. The internship will introduce me
to some of the Episcopal nuances of living and working in a faith
community. In my other two classes I’ll
be busy learning more about Judaism and about the pastoral care side of Death
and Dying.
I had to remind myself tonight of a promise I have made
while I am in school: I promise to love
the one I am with: to not let school interfere with family or family to
interfere with school, to be present with friends and focused on school work—I
need to be present in the present and not worry about what I am or am not doing
while I am doing it. When my time gets
put into silos it can help me to stay focused.
What is often harder to do is to stay balanced and set appropriate
priorities and boundaries with, for and around my time.
So this academic year will be filled with opportunities to
learn how to better balance those priorities, to develop new relationships
while I nurture those that have been around awhile, and to keep reminding
myself to breathe, meditate, pray and surround myself with the people and
things I love on a regular and renewing basis.