Only Beginning

I have been filled to overflowing with simple delight as I continue to watch spring unfurl and fling itself with wild abandon into a hungry world. After my run this afternoon, I lay my weary body down on the bench on our front porch and watched our birch tree leaves dance against the blue sky and again it occurred to me, "I am so utterly blessed to breathe in this mystery."

Last night one of the sisters, one of the circle of eight sisters, came to speak to my class about her spiritual journey as a woman with one foot firmly planted in the world of the organized church as a pastor, and with one foot treading into the mysteries of neo-pagan and goddess thought. I watched her speak so wisely to my students, and remembered the girl who was...the girl who initimidated the hell out of me when she lived on the opposite wing of Oakwood Hall, who amazed me with her intensity, and her intelligence, and her independence. And then I remembered the roadtrip to Pennsylvania to visit the parents of a friend, when I recognized how fiercely alike we were, the roadtrip where it seemed all pretense was stripped away and we became vulnerable and true to one another. And these images flashed through my head as I listened to her share of brother Jesus, and sister spirit and, again, I realized my joy at being connected to the souls of such good women.

Last night she said as we stood looking in a mirror together, "When I was in college, I was only beginning to become the woman I am now." And, as one who has a tendency to glorify the Christen of old, to feel as if perhaps I was my truest in those days, my most passionate and bright, I had to pause and honor that journey in my own life, for I to am still only beginning to become the woman I am created to be.

But, what an incredible trip it is.