April 2013, edited March 9, 2018
I am impatient, but perhaps that is due to the change that is happening in my life. I have come to believe that I have used my skills/talents as far as I can where I am. I have learned so much and love what I do, but I know what the winds of change feel like. They gnaw on me; uprooting my complacency and comfort. Of course, patience is a bitch; that is also a part of the winds of change.
My goal? My desire? To continue in my work with the people who live in the margins; some by choice and some forced into that place by life’s confusing journey. I love the gritty; the messy and the emotional sweat it takes to reach into the depths of our being and restore the hope and joy that has been buried there by traumas and disappointments. I love the celebration of the small steps forward; and the witness of the struggles left behind. I get it. I have my own scarred earth to remind me of the path I have trudged to this very moment.
No longer am I seeking a job; I seek my vocation. I don’t want to be trapped by our misleading social demands for productivity and statistical evidence that say, “This is success.”
I know what success is. It is the 35 year old disabled man who finally learns how to tie his shoes after a lifetime of trying. It is a year, a month, or a week of clean-time after an addict has been held hostage by the needle for years. It’s the embrace of the prodigal child when she finally returns to her estranged family. It is the moment that one finally realizes that wealth is more about who we are than what we have.
Teaching, leading and celebrating the new growth that is within each of us is my vocation. Now, the question is where will the call take me?
Parallel Juxtaposition 