Because you're in the public eye, and God knows you need to look good.
And sometimes we’re asked to be Santa for an 8-year old boy who expects a response to his letter:
My mother used to write like this — excuse me, SANTA used to write in this style to me when I was a kid. He left us letters rolled up with ribbon like a little scroll in our stockings sometimes. The letters always congratulated us for our wonderful points and made little supportive suggestions about how we could put more effort into our weaker spots. Santa rocks.
I am working with a vocational coach and consultant from Alban Institute this year and yesterday he asked me a great question. He said, “Ask yourself, ‘What am I a commitment to? Which is not just “What am I committed to, but what you actually are a deep commitment to in your very being.'”
I was reminded of the lyrics of the song “Tombstone” by Elizabeth Swados from the folk oratorio “Missionaries” that I just performed in. Sister Dorothy Kazel sings,
A friend asked me
What I wanted
On my tombstone.
Well I would like
people to know
I am an allelujah from head to toe.
I am a commitment to __________________________.
A good way to get in touch with what really matters, eh?
I’ll be thinking about it for myself. I hope you might join me. Feel free to share.
Did you ever have a time of prayer where, after you had said AMEN you were like, “Oh wait, God, I forgot to thank you for our staff!” and then you do like a prayer addendum?
And I just think that’s hilarious because of course God doesn’t need me to list out stuff like that, but that’s just me being human. When I think of the enormous chasm — the unspeakably immense difference between God’s understanding and knowledge and my own, it’s sort of too much to handle. One might go right into an existential crisis and not be able to get to the office at all.
So I make my prayer addendums and I know that really God is intimately acquainted with my every thought and that God knows my prayers as part of my being before they are imagined or uttered.
But this makes me think, “Humans are cute.”
Darlings, I am off to the chiropractor. I was up until 1:30 AM finishing my dissertation. Of course it needs to be approved and possibly amended, edited, etc., but at least I’m moving onto a new part of the process and that feels pretty miraculous to me today.
Someday I’ll write about how working on a dissertation is a lot like carrying on a really deep, important conversation with a coffee pot.
Much love to you today. It’s very bleak here today, I’m wearing grey and black and doing absolutely nothing to contribute some sunshine and color. Perhaps later in the day I’ll add a bright raspberry pink beret to my outfit in celebration.
My Dearest and Darling Pigeons,
If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you know that I often sprinkle the posts with reflections on ministry that are not necessarily related to ministerial image or self-care. These posts are often tagged “Beautiful Leadership.”
Today I am adding a new category called “Beautiful Ministry.” It will lift up what I hope will be beautiful ideas, practices, and reflections shared among us about our work as ordained religious leaders in our various settings.
I hope this will not be a disappointment or feel “off-topic” to those of who who come to read sassy fashion commentary. It’s just something I want to have room to do and I hope that you, my faithful readers, will find those columns just as fun and interesting as you do the other posts.
Kissies! PB