Cross+Training Days 27 & 28... What have you learned?

Cross+Training Day 27 & 28 (Monday & Tuesday)

Yesterday marked a new beginning, a new job and a big life transition. It's exciting, a little overwhelming and a great challenge. As I walked through the School of Architecture and Urban Planning I saw old friends. People who never left, people who returned after time away. Old stories and memories abounded from looking down at the bathroom tiles and remembering studio all-nighters to reminiscing my recruiter days of old. I'm here, I'm present and I'm ready, but I'm different.

I'm not the recruiter I was before. I'm different, more experienced in life, perhaps more aware of the different phases of life. I hope to build trust in my experience and at the same time be open and gain new ideas from my new colleagues.

I wonder...
When have you started something new that felt comfortable, but also was a growing and exploring place? What did you learn, how did your ideas change and morph you?

I've been reading Sara Miles' book Take This Bread: A Radical Conversation. I love how she leads her readers through her discovery of new life, new community and reexamines constantly these new paths. In her exploration, she see feeding literally and figuratively in new ways. She recognizes how much she needs to feed others, but also how much she needs to be fed. I think that lesson that although there is much work to do, any new path will also "do work" to a person.

"What I glimpsed in the projects was the last thing I'd expected growing up: that because God was about feeding and being fed, religion could be a way not to separate people but to unite them.... The sharing of food was an actual sacrament, one that resonated beyond the church and is regulations, and into a real experience of the divine. I wanted more" - Sara Miles Take This Bread


It's been a busy few days. My last weekday home with S. A relaxing walk. A nap time break for me. S's first day at the new daycare and mine at my new job. Hurry, hurry to get the kids out the door and rush across to the new job then wait for all the logistics to get sorted out. Surgery for a family member today had me up at 3:45AM and rushing to the hospital but leaves me sitting in the hospital waiting.

The waiting gives lots of room for thinking. Lots of space for prayer.

Gratitudes...
For my sweet S. Who is braver than I can imagine through this daycare transition. For the staff at her new "big girl school" who are so amazing already. For her new teacher who referred us in finding the new place. For the kid's dad who is getting us bunk beds for the new place and for his grace and my ability to reciprocate grace through this process that for some can be so hard. For new work, energy and ideas and prayers that collaboration can bring new directions and insights.

I took a nice walk around the grounds. Breathed in the spring. Enjoyed the prayer time and slight chill in the air. Prayers for a friend who is feeling down. Prayers for D who needs summer running around time. Prayers that the surgery goes well today and the recovery is fast.

God is good. Life is good.