Thank you for sharing your journey and being open to the Holy Spirit who clearly inspires you. No matter what the vocation or job, respecting ourselves and our work is what makes it possible for most of us to be vertical, to do our best, and to recognize opportunities to share the love of God while we mop a floor, clean a toilet, or inspire others to share their talents. It’s tough to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again!
I love the photo because I grew up spending Sunday mornings at the Hall of Philosophy when my mom used to attend the UU services there during the summer at Chautauqua.
A few weeks ago, a Bitty & Beau's coffee shop opened in Charlotte, NC. Their mission is to employ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities while running a fine coffee shop. When the coffee shop opened, they were overwhelmed with support - hundreds of people gathered outside and celebrated. Two adults in my church are now employed there, supported by others in their family who transport and coach them. The value of their employment is not economic. It is spiritual. It is about vocation.
I am a veterinarian in private small animal practice. We kept working through the pandemic, seeing our patients with "curbside" care, i.e. clients didn't come inside and we discussed everything over the phone. When we finally started having clients come back inside with their pets, it helped us all realize how much better it is to have that face-to-face relationship with owners, even though we get to see the animals both ways. Most pets are more comfortable this way, and it is so much more efficient. But best has been the satisfaction of really seeing how we serve people's needs (not just their animal's needs.) It could be something as simple as demonstrating in person how to clean their dog's ears properly, but the connection and seeing they truly understand and will be able to use this skill at home is so much better than when I tried to describe something over the phone. Yes, this is a stressful job but there is definitely joy of vocation here too!
thank you Diana...I retired after 40 years of ministry and it was a hard ending with the pandemic surrounding us...I have been wondering who I am now...I have been sad...but I also feel blessed...I am grateful to be able to connect with your words...
Thanks for this! Good insights. I am rather glad I had retired before the pandemic set in and did not have to reinvent myself and my way of work. I agree that the understanding of our work as a matter of purpose, calling, vocation is so essential to our joy -- and our energy! I have pondered these past weeks whether many of the folks who are in the right-wing protestations and acting out do so partly over a lack of real purpose or calling in their lives as well as the lack of ability to deal creatively with change in society.
Beginning again: thank you for your books and podcasts. I am signed up for the cottage.
Pastor Jane Sorenson of the Monroe Congregational church is using grateful as a study guide, and I am using it for the theme of the 30th annual UCC men’s retreat.
Okay, first off I have to say I was retired all through the pandemic so having to earn a living has not been a concern. I've actually benefitted from having the time to read all kinds of new things and free to travel down to new rooms in WonderLand. Because of these fabulous technologies, if I come across a book I'm curious about, I can download it in no time and be lost in another rabbit warren. I've attended church all over the continent on days other than Sunday and binge-watched new speakers/authors. My inner hermit is alive and well and life is really interesting.
The significant part of being a writer is having thoughts in which others might be interested. Although I was in the room with you 6 years ago, I am much more blessed now by being able to hear recordings and emails of your current sermons, conversations and thoughts. I've read everything you've sent in the last 2 years. You have still been teaching - the format is just different and it takes longer to get feedback. By no means do I belittle the challenge of the transition, or misunderstand the difference between sitting in your Cottage talking to a screen or a room full of hundreds of rapt listeners. The medium is not the message. There seems to be a gajillion podcasts available today. I feel like a lot of the speakers should step away from the microphone. Not everybody who has a thought needs to share it. Lots of time I write things and think "Is this going to help anyone?" and often delete it. Vocation is an important question to answer but so are "where" and "when" and "who".
I thank you for your growing in your technical ability, your courage to try new things AND think new thoughts AND share them from a vulnerable place.
I love the honesty in this story, including both the drudgery of work life during the pandemic and the joy of tasting a remembered vocation after a couple of years and great stress.
I believe that most of humanity is experiencing some swing of emotions about now and wondering how to rediscover the joy they remember from before the Pandemic.
I’m just now realizing that my pre - pandemic life will never exist for me again. I am different, tested, wounded and so exhausted. And even as I voice my wobbles, I know that I am also stronger in my faith and hope for tomorrow. God has been present with me and will be present with me tomorrow.
I love the idea of recovering one's sense of vocation and recognizing that the pandemic may have temporarily cut us off from what feeds us - and we do need to remember and reclaim that joy.
But I think it's important to remind ourselves that living out one's vocation is not limited to paid employment. At whatever point people choose to retire, discerning how to live out one's vocation in a new way becomes important to a meaningful retirement. I wonder if many who are participating in the great retirement are doing so because the experience of the pandemic pointed them to a different way of living with a priority on relationships and perhaps more creative endeavors, of living out their values - new ways that feel incompatible with their return to the old career or work path. For many, leaving their current employment is a life affirming choice that is honoring what they have learned and experienced during the pandemic.
I gradually retired from full-time to part-time ministry to uncertainty about vocation in the decade before the pandemic. Much of what you say here is true in spades for those of us in retirement from a vocation that really never ends. The pandemic and failing health have added to my confusion about who I am. I have filled some of my joy of preaching with writing a blog but have just recently put myself out there to preach again and have two gigs lined up in the next two months. I’m feeling already the joy of anticipating those occasions; so I thank you for putting words to my experience and assuring me I am not alone in this crazy journey we call life.
Your writings have been healing, and I am filled with joy of discovering new ways to connect! Therefore I am grateful for you willingness to share with a wider audience!
Thank you so much for this. It articulates well the experience. I left my pastoral position in the pandemic-- part of the great resignation-- it's grievous and complex. Your piece is so helpful and hopeful that this may not be how it always is!
Thank you for sharing your journey and being open to the Holy Spirit who clearly inspires you. No matter what the vocation or job, respecting ourselves and our work is what makes it possible for most of us to be vertical, to do our best, and to recognize opportunities to share the love of God while we mop a floor, clean a toilet, or inspire others to share their talents. It’s tough to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again!
I love the photo because I grew up spending Sunday mornings at the Hall of Philosophy when my mom used to attend the UU services there during the summer at Chautauqua.
A few weeks ago, a Bitty & Beau's coffee shop opened in Charlotte, NC. Their mission is to employ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities while running a fine coffee shop. When the coffee shop opened, they were overwhelmed with support - hundreds of people gathered outside and celebrated. Two adults in my church are now employed there, supported by others in their family who transport and coach them. The value of their employment is not economic. It is spiritual. It is about vocation.
I am a veterinarian in private small animal practice. We kept working through the pandemic, seeing our patients with "curbside" care, i.e. clients didn't come inside and we discussed everything over the phone. When we finally started having clients come back inside with their pets, it helped us all realize how much better it is to have that face-to-face relationship with owners, even though we get to see the animals both ways. Most pets are more comfortable this way, and it is so much more efficient. But best has been the satisfaction of really seeing how we serve people's needs (not just their animal's needs.) It could be something as simple as demonstrating in person how to clean their dog's ears properly, but the connection and seeing they truly understand and will be able to use this skill at home is so much better than when I tried to describe something over the phone. Yes, this is a stressful job but there is definitely joy of vocation here too!
thank you Diana...I retired after 40 years of ministry and it was a hard ending with the pandemic surrounding us...I have been wondering who I am now...I have been sad...but I also feel blessed...I am grateful to be able to connect with your words...
Thanks for this! Good insights. I am rather glad I had retired before the pandemic set in and did not have to reinvent myself and my way of work. I agree that the understanding of our work as a matter of purpose, calling, vocation is so essential to our joy -- and our energy! I have pondered these past weeks whether many of the folks who are in the right-wing protestations and acting out do so partly over a lack of real purpose or calling in their lives as well as the lack of ability to deal creatively with change in society.
Beginning again: thank you for your books and podcasts. I am signed up for the cottage.
Pastor Jane Sorenson of the Monroe Congregational church is using grateful as a study guide, and I am using it for the theme of the 30th annual UCC men’s retreat.
Thank you again for all you do,
Hans Dankers
Okay, first off I have to say I was retired all through the pandemic so having to earn a living has not been a concern. I've actually benefitted from having the time to read all kinds of new things and free to travel down to new rooms in WonderLand. Because of these fabulous technologies, if I come across a book I'm curious about, I can download it in no time and be lost in another rabbit warren. I've attended church all over the continent on days other than Sunday and binge-watched new speakers/authors. My inner hermit is alive and well and life is really interesting.
The significant part of being a writer is having thoughts in which others might be interested. Although I was in the room with you 6 years ago, I am much more blessed now by being able to hear recordings and emails of your current sermons, conversations and thoughts. I've read everything you've sent in the last 2 years. You have still been teaching - the format is just different and it takes longer to get feedback. By no means do I belittle the challenge of the transition, or misunderstand the difference between sitting in your Cottage talking to a screen or a room full of hundreds of rapt listeners. The medium is not the message. There seems to be a gajillion podcasts available today. I feel like a lot of the speakers should step away from the microphone. Not everybody who has a thought needs to share it. Lots of time I write things and think "Is this going to help anyone?" and often delete it. Vocation is an important question to answer but so are "where" and "when" and "who".
I thank you for your growing in your technical ability, your courage to try new things AND think new thoughts AND share them from a vulnerable place.
I love the honesty in this story, including both the drudgery of work life during the pandemic and the joy of tasting a remembered vocation after a couple of years and great stress.
I believe that most of humanity is experiencing some swing of emotions about now and wondering how to rediscover the joy they remember from before the Pandemic.
I’m just now realizing that my pre - pandemic life will never exist for me again. I am different, tested, wounded and so exhausted. And even as I voice my wobbles, I know that I am also stronger in my faith and hope for tomorrow. God has been present with me and will be present with me tomorrow.
As always you writing is right on and uplifting, thank you, the Cottage truly feels Ike home. !
I love the idea of recovering one's sense of vocation and recognizing that the pandemic may have temporarily cut us off from what feeds us - and we do need to remember and reclaim that joy.
But I think it's important to remind ourselves that living out one's vocation is not limited to paid employment. At whatever point people choose to retire, discerning how to live out one's vocation in a new way becomes important to a meaningful retirement. I wonder if many who are participating in the great retirement are doing so because the experience of the pandemic pointed them to a different way of living with a priority on relationships and perhaps more creative endeavors, of living out their values - new ways that feel incompatible with their return to the old career or work path. For many, leaving their current employment is a life affirming choice that is honoring what they have learned and experienced during the pandemic.
I gradually retired from full-time to part-time ministry to uncertainty about vocation in the decade before the pandemic. Much of what you say here is true in spades for those of us in retirement from a vocation that really never ends. The pandemic and failing health have added to my confusion about who I am. I have filled some of my joy of preaching with writing a blog but have just recently put myself out there to preach again and have two gigs lined up in the next two months. I’m feeling already the joy of anticipating those occasions; so I thank you for putting words to my experience and assuring me I am not alone in this crazy journey we call life.
Thanks for naming what so many of us have experienced as we (hopefully) are coming out from under the cloud of the pandemic!
Brilliant! I'll share this with many.
Your writings have been healing, and I am filled with joy of discovering new ways to connect! Therefore I am grateful for you willingness to share with a wider audience!
Thank you so much for this. It articulates well the experience. I left my pastoral position in the pandemic-- part of the great resignation-- it's grievous and complex. Your piece is so helpful and hopeful that this may not be how it always is!