Midsummer Doldrums

Yes its the middle of the summer and I'm feeling lost in the midst of a wide open stretch of windless water, a bit ironic I must admit as yesterday's winds in the Magic Valley were gusting above 30 miles per hour. It's not that I'm bored or that there is nothing to do, not with a week and a half of evenings full of meetings or social and family times coming up. No, it's more about being between the wonderful things that have happened over the past few weeks in worship and things that are unfolding over the next month or so.

In the midst of this low time I pulled out a resource about Sabbaticals, as you may know I'm eligible for one in the summer of 2011. As I've been dreaming about that I've been following Jan Edmiston's blog, www.achurchofstarvingartists.com which is chronicling her sabbatical this summer. It is fun and interesting and eye opening all at the same time. She has visited with former members of the church she serves in Alexandria in places like Texas and Istanbul. She led a workshop at the conference I attended in North Carolina. She also blogged about church members not really understanding the sabbatical once she was gone. So I've picked up some ideas and hopefully will be able to implement them in the two years leading up to sabbatical.

I've also been using this in between time to practice some new prayer forms. One that I'm really excited about is "Praying in Color" by Sybil MacBeth. The basic idea is that many of us get hung up in prayer in trying to figure out what words to use, but this new prayer form encourages us to hold a person's name or a desire of our heart or even scripture before God and doodle, yes drawing shapes and using various colors, as a way of holding that person or idea before God in order to keep our mind from wondering. It has been a great way for me to pray with and for our congregation, especially in this in between time.

I've also been reading a lot of fiction, in particular alternative history. It has been a good escape without having to leave Twin Falls.

I'm sure this season of my heart will pass and the next few weeks of meetings, Eric's birthday, Kathy's trip to Sheridan, two weddings, and Kathy and Eric's trip to Seattle will ease me through the doldrums of the summer.