Merry-Go-Round, One Year Later

Another year has come full circle, and I am farther along on the path toward UU ministry. I read the above post, and think about it differently now, more gently.

Yes, the path is not a straight shot, but every wandering loop is a chance to scoop up great armfuls of experience. Those who march in lock-step miss out when they wear blinders to every interesting option to the left or right.

I've learned a lot in the last year, followed passions I might not otherwise have had time for. Did some grass-roots organizing about legislation permitting the sale of raw milk here in Alaska. Read and read and read about food and farm issues. Got swept up in the incredible political drama of this year's presidential election. Volunteered. Gave money. Went to rallies. Brought salad to campaign workers who were eating nothing but pizza.

I found myself gradually becoming more involved in the Anchorage fellowship. I took more leadership in our small group, becoming the person who reminded folks when we were meeting and what we were talking about. I preached several times at the fellowship. I was asked to be on the Committee on Ministry...and now find myself chairing the committee.

I invited three other UU friends to join me in supporting a local CSA. And every Tuesday throughout this past summer the four of us met on my front deck to divide up two shares worth of local vegetables. Built some good community.

I learned how to use Facebook, and re-connected with family members, and friends from high school, college and seminary.

Do I wish I were further along? Yes. Do I wish I was being paid to do what I love? Yes, absolutely yes. Have I learned a lot? Yes.

It's all true. Every last messy, curvy bit of it.

Vocational Merry-Go-Round

Vocation is simple, if you just stay on track.

Graduate from high school and go immediately to college. When college graduation looms, apply for jobs or to graduate schools, while you are surrounded by peers and mentors who can help you figure out what's next.

Stay in the chute, and your forward motion will propel you into a job, maybe even a career. Most importantly, you will have health insurance.

Do not, under any circumstances, question any choice you have already made. Do not stop to reconsider your vocation. And by all means, do not acknowledge any personal qualities that may disqualify you from being what you have chosen to become.

Because if you do, the straightforward trajectory that has given your life structure will become a spiral, and its centrifugal force will spew you out, and you will find yourself sitting on your ass watching the merry-go-round, well, go round.

It will take a while to recouperate, to find the strength to drag yourself to your feet. You'll spend a lot of time watching the horses dance on past, searching for the courage to leap forward onto the moving carousel. Enthusiasm and courage will ebb and flow within you, almost never at the same time. Just when you are ready to leap--when you really, really want to---your courage will fail you.

That's when it helps to stop imagining your leap as graceful and triumphant. You have to be willing to scrape your shins on the edge of the carousel, to land face-down under the galloping hooves. It's the only way to get back on the ride.

Bathing in Sin

Yesterday while waiting for Costco to open I was half-listening to NPR's Morning Edition. The personal finances "expert" was talking about saving money and conserving energy in the winter. The host asked which used less hot water, a bath or shower (a shower), then followed up with a suggestion that perhaps baths could be shared. The finances guru giggled, admitted that she had done so, then said, "But I'm married!"

There you have it--just one more way "civil unions" are separate and unequal. "But I'm civil-unioned!" lacks the linguistic authority to absolve those who cannot marry from the grievous sin of bath-sharing.