5 Weekly Graces Vol. 20

Not gonna lie friends, I am stressed to the max currently and just holding my breath hoping things calm down and I can relax. We shall see.

But despite all of the anxiety (and the fact that I am 3/4 days late posting this) I still wanted to share some grace found in last week - especially because turning my focus to the positive in my life usually helps calm me down.

1 - Support of Friends

Last week I found out that my contact who was responsible for creating the agenda for my students' immersion trip this coming week did not have much on the schedule which meant I had about a week and a half to pull together nearly an entire week's worth of organizations to work with and things to do. Lucky for me, many of my friends and coworkers have various connections and were so incredibly supportive and helpful in helping me put something together. My boss was beyond understanding and assured me he knew this was not due to a lack of proactivity on my part. Everything is set and ready to go now, but boy was that a stressful experience. I would not have been able to pull through without so many wonderful, giving, loving people by my side supporting me. I have been truly blessed with some amazing people in my life.

2 - Tai Food

I found out about the glitch in scheduling when I arrived home from work on Tuesday, so on Wednesday I was in the office until after 10pm with a day of meetings and researching sites, etc. One of my coworkers was also working fairly late and treated me to pad tai (my favorite) because she knew how much work I had going on. It was so kind and such a nice treat. Also, delicious.

3 - Preaching

One of my requirements for graduation is to take a lay-led liturgy course. The course has definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone because not only did the professor get me to cantor (aka sing solo in public which I haven't done since I was 8) but I also had to preach for our Reconciliation Service, something I had never done before (you can read my reflection here). Right after the service I had class, so I rushed out, but the next day I had so many professors and students express gratitude for my reflection. I even had friends who didn't go say how people were commenting on it and one friend said that I inspired him with something to use for a service he was preparing. Now mind you, I go to a school full of ministers and they would support me even if I had been awful, but it was just so touching to have so many kind words shared.

4 - Retreat

Saturday afternoon all of the MDiv students who will graduate in may had a short retreat to look back at our time at school. I have to admit that I was not super excited to go. It's not that I didn't want to be with these friends, I just had(have) SO much to do and thought I could have used that time for different preparations. All-in-all, it was a beautiful time and I am very grateful to have shared it with those students I have been walking through this grad school journey with. They're pretty amazing and I can't wait to see what they accomplish in the future.

5 - Karaoke

And finally, on Saturday we had another karaoke party at my house. Lots of singing. Lots of laughs. Lots of fun.

Thanks for reading and understanding about my lateness in posting this, friends. I hope all of your weeks are going amazingly and that you are able to continuously point out joy.

Peace,
Sarah