This month, my friend Katherine’s first book entitled Any Day a Beautiful Change: A Story of Faith and Family released. It’s the second publication of The Young Clergy Women Project imprint with Chalice Press and I’m thrilled to celebrate Katherine’s voice among this circle of talented young clergy women that I call my tribe.
In celebration of this release, Katherine has asked her blogging friends to blog about the beautiful changes in our lives. This stumped me when the email arrived a month ago inviting my participation. (I openly admit that I have not read Katherine’s book though I know it will be wonderful because I literally cried on the treadmill reading this excerpt in The Christian Century.) As much as I wanted to hype this talented colleague, I had no idea what I could articulate to be my beautiful change — if there is indeed only one. I feel like I’m waiting it. I want it to happen. It just hasn’t happened yet so I had no words. And then, I read this beautiful reflection by my friend Lee.
My mind raced back one whole month where I sat in the luxury of a hot tub overlooking a vineyard in the home that I rented in Sonoma to celebrate my 33rd birthday with my nearest and dearest. On this particular night, it seems that most everyone had gone to sleep except for my two non-Christian friends. This is an important fact only because this was the moment that I tried to explain resurrection. My hands skimmed the top of the water as I tried to explain the holy days that had just come to pass. Of course, my monologue was not really about how the church celebrated the resurrection. It was how I felt surrounded by the love of these friends all week in a beautiful place with wonderful wine. I’ve already told this story here but sometimes it feels like beautiful things need to be repeated. We can talk and talk about the power of friendship, about the awesome mystery of being truly known and the redeeming power of laughing until your sides ache — but it’s an idle tale until you experience it again. For me, it seems that I needed to gather every important person in my life (with the profound awareness that there were still some missing) to remember what it feels like to be loved. It may sound silly or trite — but that trip really has changed everything. It has reminded me of something that I had forgotten in myself and something I needed to hear from a friend who has known me since we ate lunch together every day in middle school. It reminded me that I am deeply loved. At least for now, this is the beautiful change I needed. My restless spirit always wants more love and more justice and more peace. But, while I try to be patient in my practice of resurrection, I can always smile to remember what it felt like to be that loved for one week.
This is just one story. This is just one beautiful change. I encourage you to consider your own — and please do read these wise words from my friend Katherine who encourages to remember how beautiful change can be. Find out more here.
Cooking with Elsa 