Where Did You Come From?

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career, future, give thanks, God's hand, growth, influences, Jan Phillips, life path, lives, No Ordinary Time, past, present, profession, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

During last evening’s gathering of “No Ordinary Women” (named for the book No Ordinary Time by Jan Phillips) we recognized that each of us, in looking back over our lives, had evolved in ways we had not foreseen our early years. It’s always interesting to ask children the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Usually, the younger the child, the more fanciful the response – and it rarely touches on what really happens as they mature. Only one of us touched on what would be an answer to that question, i.e. career or profession, but we all agreed that we had evolved personally in ways we might not have expected as we walked our life path. Life has a way of forming us through events and relationships that sometimes seem random but can be quite formative as we live into and then reflect on them and their impact on us. For example, I thought I would be a high school French teacher all my working life. At this point, I have not lived that role since 33 years ago and have worn six different hats since I left that first position!

Perhaps today is a good day to carve out a bit of time to see where we started and who we have become because of the influences in our lives. I just took a 3-minute break here and made a cursory list of the twists and turns in my life and people who were instrumental in the genesis of those happenings.  There were 12 people on my list and that was mostly in regard to career shifts. Just think where I could go if I looked at my personal life! As we move toward the celebration of Thanksgiving in our country, let us all reflect on how our past has generated our present and what we see as possibility for the future. The goal? Seeing God’s hand in every instance of our growth and giving thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

Staying on the Path

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clear, determined, joy in your presence, life path, mistakes, obscure, paths, prayer, show me, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Yesterday afternoon I had a little time to walk around the grounds at this beautiful retreat and conference center that encompasses 1,400 acres. There are many paths to choose, some mostly sunlit, some deeper in the woods. Some of the paths are clearly marked and some partially obscured by leaves and twigs and undergrowth. They all lead in beautiful directions even though some demand more care in the walking. It was difficult to choose a path yesterday as I needed to be aware of my time limits and sure I could get back to the conference room by 3:00.

Life is sometimes like that. There are paths that I clearly knew to avoid. Other choices are more difficult, especially if some of the stops along the way are not clear in the beginning. At this moment in time I feel as if I am determined on a life path, although my walk is sometimes slow and careful in order to avoid some of the directional mistakes I made in the past. Now my prayer is with the psalmist who sings confidently this morning, Lord, you will show me the path of life, fullness of joy in your presence!