Leanne Shawler, Artist

Since I wrote that "Sabbatical Daily Schedule" (which was a couple of weeks ago as I started to get anxious about what exactly I would be doing in my soon-to-be copious spare time, but posted about last week, see link below), the bloggers I read have touched on this subject. In sort of the order I found them: Christianne Squires over at Still Forming has been blogging a whole series on Living a Rhythmed Life which I have been thoroughly enjoying; and then, just as I was wondering if I needed to totally redo my schedule, or just declare them guidelines for when I drift toward distractions instead of intentions, along comes Jennifer Lee at Getting Down with Jesus with her beautiful post and images on "...The Truth About Our Plans" which got me to finally articulate in writing what I'd been sharing in a few conversations here and there in " How To Make Time for God" And the blog posts just kept coming, even after I'd written the post (i...

As I mentioned in last week's Monday post, I put together a playlist of tunes to help me through this transition. I am leaving a job I like, and will no longer be working with people I like (although I am still planning on making the Thursday Chuao's trips ). And so, I put together a playlist to listen to and remind myself. I call it Leaving With Grace ... The Presence of the Lord is Here (Fran McKendree) Holy Spirit, Come Now (Jesse Manibusan) Use Me Up (John Tirro) Trust in Your Heart (from the musical "Paris" ) I Say Grace (Hayley Westenra) The Potter's Hand (Hillsong) This Journey Is My Own (Sara Groves) Unwritten (Natasha Bedingfield) Compelled (Sara Groves) Lifesong (Casting Crowns) How Can I Tell (Sara Groves) Tacos, Enchiladas and Beans (Doris Day) Dog Days Are Over (Pentatonix) Shut Up and Let Me Go (The Ting-Tings) Hymn (Brooke Fraser) It Is Well (Sara Groves) Yeah, I diverged into a little bit of upbeat silliness, which has more t...

I shall stop talking about this "leaving" topic soon. It'll soon be time to look forward. At any rate, today, I wanted to share the link to the blog post I wrote yesterday on my church blog. Yesterday was my last day....

That's my latest challenge now that I'm leaving my job  (and yesterday's post, below). I have an endless summer of Sabbath to discern what God has planned for me in this next chapter of my life. I was afraid that, left to my own devices, I would fritter away my days surfing the net, watching tv, or playing Civilization IV. So I made a schedule. A schedule, as soon as I finished reading it, I saw was unkeepable. I mean look at it... It has footnotes and everything! Those footnotes are lists of different ways of being attentive to God, things that I would do if I were away on retreat. (Incidentally if you can read the fine print at the bottom, "coursework" refers to the Inner Excavate-along that I talked about here , followed by Christine ValtersPaintner's "The Artist's Rule of Life" .) OK, I told myself, this is just a guideline, that when I'm aimlessly wandering the house, or flicking through channels, this is where I will come...

One of my earliest memories of being in ministry (church work, if you will) is labeling lots of church newsletters and then walking all over the neighborhood, hand delivering them. I was a teen, post-confirmation. Church work (along with singing) has always been central to how I express my faith -- for both good and bad reasons. Good, being that I stepped up to fill a void. Good, in that I truly believe I was making a difference with my work. Bad, in that I did it to show that I was a good Christian, to prove I was worthy of being called a Christian. Bad, in that I acted out of fear. Yeah, I have some issues. I have shed or am shedding most of those bad reasons, but I still get tripped up in them sometimes. Now, after spending a lifetime of volunteering, leading, working for a church -- now, I am stopping . I've been told more than once that this will be really hard, to not be drawn back into that old way of being. But I've promised God to sit at...