Helluva Dreich!

In Scotland there are many different phrases used to describe a rainy day.  The one that best corresponds to today's unrelenting rains is helluva dreich!  It started raining some time during the night, and never, ever stopped.  I had planned to head to Ross to visit a church that has an interesting pastoral staffing model, followed by a trip to the store to get index cards (which I unfortunately forgot to get yesterday), and then a later meal at Cafe Gratitude or Taco Jane's where I would enjoy something wonderful.  Instead, I stayed in all day.

I researched this interesting staffing model online (a very creative model for enhancing pastoral staffing without adding paid staff positions), worked without the index cards (I'll get them tomorrow), and caught up on some reading - very, very enjoyable.

And I sat in the chair by the window and watched the rain.  I don't think I've intentionally watched a rain storm since I was a child.  I remember the summer rains coming to WNY, and sitting on the porch while it rained so hard that you couldn't see across the street - and wondered if it would ever stop!  The quality of the rain (we used to say it came down in sheets) was very much like the rain today - hence the memory.  I am often too busy to watch the rain (even though it is a fairly rare occurence in Boise), and yet the experience of just being present and watching the rain has an almost soothing quality to it.  Less soothing tonight, as the winds have picked up and it now sounds like a driving rain!

An unexpected day of complete rest, compliments of the winter rains.  Tomorrow begins my third and final week of my first intensive - lots to do before assessments later in the week.  Although I will miss my new colleagues and many of the opportunities here at SFTS, I can sense that inner reorientation that happens as one begins to prepare to leave.  My eyes are turning ever-so-slowly towards home.

What was the weather like for you today?  Did you have a moment to stop and experience it - savor it - appreciate it - offer thanks for it - or was it a busy day full of activities and distractions?  It isn't too late...you can still poke your head outside and experience God's creation (but if you're reading this in the Bay Area, remember your souwester (British yellow plastic rain hat that allows water to run around the brow and drain off the back).

A poem shared with us in class this past week:  Aches and Pains, by Marilyn Nelson

Abba Jacob said:
The older I get, the more clearly I believe
that old age is the desert.
It's biblical, too.  In youth
we are the Jews in Egypt,
convinced that gifts
come horizontally; from other men,
like documents of manumission,
or from the land, like river water
and golden-headed, flowing grain.
Grown older we know, a people adrift
in a featurless wasteland,
that all gifts come from heaven.
Like manna.  Like respite.  Like rain.

Rest well,
With love and prayers,
Kim