... Still Soaking!

And I'm pretty sure we're past the soft hands stage. We've moved right past wrinkly fingers to mush.

Yesterday I went to Westwood to pack up my office. I predicted 2-3 hours for this job. Hah! I was so wrong! I'm pretty sure I disposed of at least a small forest as I made trip after trip to the recycling dumpster. In fact on the last one, well after dark, I headed out the back door, and there, hopping out of the dumpster, was the biggest racoon I ever saw ... with her family of kits peeking out over the edge! Ay yay yay! I ran back in and slammed the door hard, leaving that last load for my friend Brian on the morning custodial shift.

Working in this office for the last six years, I'd forgotten how many stories and memories were tucked away in my files, bookshelves and drawers. Now I realize that all along, I was surrounded by them, and pulling them out felt sort of like pulling out a prayer shawl and wrapping it around myself. For all the stresses that come along with the work of pastor-ing, the deep connections with people, the opportunity to be a vessel for God's love ... it is so humbling, and it is such an amazing vocation. Aw geez. Now I'm crying again ...

For most of the hours I was packing, I had my iPod on shuffle. What a fantastic invention!!! Even after using this thing for over a year, I'm thrilled with the ability to pick any one of a thousand songs at the press of a button. So, I heard from all my girls: Shawn Colvin, Patti Griffin, Annie Lennox, Sam Phillips, Aimee Mann, the Indigos, Nelly Fertado, Corrine Bailey Rae, Ella Fitzgerald, Sheryl Crow, Nanci Griffith, Natalie Merchant, Suzanne Vega and on and on ... plus a few boys - John Hiatt, U2, Bruce Cockburn, Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, Louis Armstrong and on and on again ... Surprisingly, today, the one song I can't shake from those many hours of listening? "Goin' to Carolina in My Mind" by James Taylor. It's the little tag at the end I can't get out of my head:
I'm gone ... say nice things about me ... I'm gone ... carry on without me ...

Tonight the congregation celebrated with us at a potluck (of course!) and I'm still floating from all of the sweet words of affirmation that were spoken, written in zillions of cards, and whispered into my ears as we hugged.

What a gift the church is. What a gift this church has been.

Thanks be to God.