On being appropriately challenged, and about the need for rest as well...

Yesterday was pretty good, all told. The homily at church was spot-on; Fr. Rory did a bangin' job of putting out a call to action, I think. He talked about the commissioning of the apostles, that they were to go heal the sick, drive out demons, etc. He reminded us that in the Creed, we profess that we believe in an "apostolic church." And that the original twelve were all just regular guys, some even a little suspect (tax collector Matthew, for example), but they accepted the mission given them. Fr. Rory ended his homily with this:

"They all had names. And so do you."

Oof. Great ending. (Well, it was the penultimate sentence, but you know what I mean.) We have a job to do, if we truly believe what we profess every time we go to Mass. Fr. Rory enjoined us to understand that we are "born for this" time in history-- as difficult, messy, and scary as it is-- because we have been called to action by our beliefs. No more sitting back wringing hands and offering up just thoughts and prayers; we need to act. 

And so we should. And so we often do. And will do more.

The rest of the day was pretty decent, too. Geoff and Meg put up the pool, it's filled, and the first round of chlorine is in there. It'll take more, and a good scrubbing, but probably not today. I puttered around a little in the garden, replacing the two cucumber plants that got nabbed by some critter. And then I read for hours. I have not done that in ages. I may not get a chance to do it all that often, but honestly, I'm pretty sure I just don't create the chance to do so. So, add that to my summer wish list: carve out time to rest and reset often. I've buried the needle on E for a long time, and I need to fill my mental reserves back up. This has been a long, productive, but mentally taxing year (new to AP stuff), and I have little ability to formulate thoughts, other than this little missive every morning. I need to read, to ponder, to let my brain fill up and spill over before I can do much else. And I have goals: I want to work with my poems to see if I can put together a decent full collection this summer. I can't even bring myself to look at them right now, so I know I'm riding on fumes. Summer is a necessary thing in most teachers' lives, and I am feeling it more than I have in years.

And it's raining. Like, pouring. It started last evening, but has rained all night. Sometime around 2am, there was lightning, too. And it's only 60 degrees. Today is supposed to be the first day of swim lessons for Holly, but we'll see what happens with that. I'll monitor the Facebook page for updates. If it's holding, she'll go-- she's a trouper, and to be honest, I'd rather deal with a chilly, wet four year old than one who is melting down and hollering about not going. So, I'll gird myself for that. 

I have a pan of sourdough banana bread muffins in the oven already-- I like summer scheduling. I try to get the cooking/baking done early. And I'm sitting in my nightgown drinking coffee, thinking about the fact that I'll have to shift my to-do list a bit: washing floors when it's raining out is stupid, because they will not dry. So, maybe today is laundry instead. No matter what I end up doing, it's on my own schedule, and that makes all the difference. 

Have a wonderful day. Stay dry, if you are in a wet zone. Keep the faith. Do something for yourself, and hug the ones you love.

C