Blessed

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. - Psalm 28:7

It has been almost seven months since my last blog post and I have to admit that I have been a bit lazy about it.  There really is no other reason other than it began to feel like a chore for me rather than a gift from me.  But after these seven months I have been driven to address this underlying desire to get back to it.  Though in the past it has been primarily a personal blog for those who are interested in the goings on while I am in seminary.  It has been useful to go back and read these events, to reflect on their meaning and understand what is going on in my life.  Much to your dismay I will not fill you all in on what has happened in the last seven months but here are a few words to sum up my time away from you lovely people.  So, here we go:

Amazing summer experience
Rural, country, natural setting
Refreshing summer, re-energized for fall
New fall semester
New classmates, new friends
New classes
Challenging classes
Difficult readings
Long nights of writing
Engagement (My personal favorite event of the last seven months)
Good feasting
All A's (Albeit A-'s but still not a bad showing)
Berkeley to Phoenix to Boston to Charlotte to Boston to Phoenix to Berkeley to Boston to Berkeley (all in a 45 day span...whew)
Good family holidays
Good visits with friends
New Years kiss with my love
New Spring semester
New classes
Same friends and classmates

So there you go...consider yourself updated.

While I guess I did provide a brief update, without pictures, I do want to offer you this.  As we ushered in the season of Lent last night with the service of Ash Wednesday, we enter a time of self-reflection, self-discipline, and anticipation of the joyful resurrection of Jesus, where death is conquered and through faith we are promised to be raised up on the last day.  So for the next forty days I would like to offer to you all daily meditations on a different word...all free of charge.  For today I chose the word blessed.

Over the past couple of days I have found myself reflecting on just how blessed I am to be able to be out out here on the west coast engaging in studies that I am really excited about.  For example, I walked out of my afternoon theology class and was walking back to my dorm and it was really warm out.  This drew my attention to the trees around me and there were flowers already blooming on some of the trees.  New shoots were poking out of the ground.  It is February 14th and spring is beginning in Berkeley.  Sorry to all my friends in New England who are buried under feet of snow, but this is part of the reason I feel so blessed.  I thank God everyday for the opportunity to continue my formation in such a beautiful place as this.  I am so blessed to have such amazing and supportive family members.  I am so blessed to have great friends who, even though I have been gone for months at a time, welcome me back as if I had never left.  I am so blessed for my parish family who continue to support me financially and through prayer.  I am so blessed for the gifts that God has given me and that I get to develop and fine tune these gifts for my future ministry.  Most of all I am so blessed for the love and support of Lauren.

Psalm 28:7 says, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him."  The psalms are filled with songs of joy and thankfulness.  They were a way in which the people of Israel could express their faith in God and they served a liturgical function as well.  As I begin my season of Lent I give thanks to God in song and prayer for all the blessings of my life.  I ask you, what are you thankful for?  What gets you out of bed each day, glad to welcome the new day that awaits?  I know Lent is normally a solemn time but I want to start it off by giving thanks.  So I ask you again, what are you thankful for?