{"id":1180,"date":"2021-05-14T12:27:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T16:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/?p=1180"},"modified":"2021-05-18T12:27:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T16:27:59","slug":"reflection-from-joel-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/reflection-from-joel-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection from Joel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A couple of days ago I remembered a gift that I was given on the day of my ordination by a friend who was thinking about what I might need in the most difficult days of my vocation. And she had a playful spirit \u2013 and so one of the things in the gift was a set of gel window clings that had the words \u201cDON\u2019T GIVE UP\u201d surrounded by stars. And I pulled it out and finally opened the package and placed it up on the window of the chaplain office in Barrows Activity Center: where any passers-by, residents, staff, family, or visitors can hear a word of encouragement. And me too \u2013 although it looks backwards to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Because as anyone who\u2019s been through serious illness or injury knows, recovery takes a lot of energy \u2013 and can be as stressful at times as crisis \u2013 and a lot of the grief that has been shelved during the times of adrenaline-fueled overfunctioning comes to our awareness in ways we don\u2019t quite expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I offer this simple image in a backwards gel window cling form \u2013 to say I see you and your longing for flourishing and your wavering in and out of languishing. And the grief you carry from this very difficult year. Don\u2019t give up \u2013 each day is a gift and carries with it new possibilities for life. Be patient with yourself and gentle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all a lot messier than we often expect \u2013 and that\u2019s ok. Because that\u2019s not just you, it\u2019s me too. And while no one can fix it, we can at least  know that we\u2019re not the only ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May this day be one of release and joy for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And may the blessing of God or all that sustains you, keep you safe, grant you peace and fill you with all that you need, just for today. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of days ago I remembered a gift that I was given on the day of my ordination by a friend who was thinking about what I might need in the most difficult days of my vocation. And she had a playful spirit \u2013 and so one of the things in the gift was … Continue reading Reflection from Joel<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1182,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions\/1182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}