Hey ya'll! Hope the week is going good for all ya'll. I first want to say how much I enjoyed the Advent blog! It was so awesome and everyone had such great posts! It was really nice for me also because my community pretty much has no prayer time. The other volunteers I live with are all Americorp and they really have no desire to have community prayer. So I wanted to propose an idea to everyone. I got a webcam for xmas and Stefanie gave me this awesome idea to have prayer sessions with you guys through skype! I was thinking we could do the liturgy of the hours maybe once or twice a week. If anyone is interested please make a comment or let me know in someway. I enjoy personal prayer time but I really have been wanting some form of community prayer. Thanks guys and have a blessed week!
Becca
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Times They Are A-Chainging
First, I must say that I am honored to be the first person to add to our blog in this new year and new decade (and baffled that we are already 11 days in!). I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. If the lack of writing tells me anything, I assume most everyone got to travel home and spend time with family. :) Travel stories, anyone?
After the simple guidance of our Advent books and the greater ease that can come from knowing what lies ahead (Christmas), I want to remind my fellow DVs (and myself) that just because Christmas has past and we are now in "Ordinary Time," we should try not to get discouraged as our tasks get challenging or as things change or don't change when we would like them to. I hope that the winter holidays have instead provided a break and led each of us into a renewed sense of purpose. It may help to remember, as Lynn Allvin explained to us, that we are voluntarily displaced. I put forward the challenge to think about what that means for you right now.
I think the spring semester has always looked brighter for me than the fall, but it can also bring with it the uncertainty of what to do when we leave our current homes and familiarities. I came into this year with a little too much expectation that I would figure everything out while I was here and be ready to start heading down some path that I thought would be clearly laid before me by the time the year closes. By now, I know that I was completely wrong. On the other hand, God has genuinely shown me things I may never have noticed about myself otherwise. I'll be the first to admit that I am still trying to figure things out (mostly) and trying to listen to where God is leading me (a little less).
The Dominican Sisters of Houston hosted a talk on "The Quest for Holiness" in which the speaker, Dr. Greer Gordon, outlined for us how to think about and live the process of discernment. Considering that I have been struggling to discern many aspects of my life, I found it incredibly helpful, and I will have to share some of her insights (please remind me if I forget to post them in the next week or two). Part of the reason I don't have the answers I am looking for may have more to do with me not doing my part than God not answering my prayers- since God always works through people and events in our lives. I often forget that and instead keep waiting for God to speak in a clear voice telling me what to do next and making certain decisions for me. I will have to go into this more another time...
The real reason I started writing is to let everyone know that a former DV (2008-09), Kelly Biddle, has been accepted as a Candidate for the Dominican Sisters of Houston!!! (She is in the early stages of discerning whether to join that community as a sister.) As much as I love the three sisters with whom I currently live, it is nice to have a change and especially to have another young person in the house (and the neighborhood). She moved in Friday and begins as a biology professor next Tuesday, so please keep her in your prayers as she adjusts to many things and embarks on this journey.
I am beginning to see why Sr. Pat calls our house the "Revolving Door Community." Not only did Kelly move in on Friday, but we are having Sr. Miriam who ministers in Guatemala come in for a few weeks starting tomorrow, and Sr. Mary Brenda who has been in Kenya for a while is moving back to the U.S. and comes to live with us on Wednesday. Chapter will be held this coming weekend, so we will also have Sr. Deborah in our house for those days. Basically, our house went from 4 months with 4 people living in the house to in the course of a week 6 women living there, plus visitors!! I am very excited to meet and get to know these women whom I have heard so much about (and to see our 10 bedroom house get a little more use), but I am also a little curious as to how we will share one refridgerator and one washer and drier, not to mention rearranging and adding furniture so we can all sit comfortably in the community room and chapel.
I pray that all of you are well. Please write more about your ministries and communities. I know that our mid-year retreat is fast upon us, but I would love to hear how everyone is doing (the joys and the struggles)!
Many, many blessings in this new year,
Kristen
After the simple guidance of our Advent books and the greater ease that can come from knowing what lies ahead (Christmas), I want to remind my fellow DVs (and myself) that just because Christmas has past and we are now in "Ordinary Time," we should try not to get discouraged as our tasks get challenging or as things change or don't change when we would like them to. I hope that the winter holidays have instead provided a break and led each of us into a renewed sense of purpose. It may help to remember, as Lynn Allvin explained to us, that we are voluntarily displaced. I put forward the challenge to think about what that means for you right now.
I think the spring semester has always looked brighter for me than the fall, but it can also bring with it the uncertainty of what to do when we leave our current homes and familiarities. I came into this year with a little too much expectation that I would figure everything out while I was here and be ready to start heading down some path that I thought would be clearly laid before me by the time the year closes. By now, I know that I was completely wrong. On the other hand, God has genuinely shown me things I may never have noticed about myself otherwise. I'll be the first to admit that I am still trying to figure things out (mostly) and trying to listen to where God is leading me (a little less).
The Dominican Sisters of Houston hosted a talk on "The Quest for Holiness" in which the speaker, Dr. Greer Gordon, outlined for us how to think about and live the process of discernment. Considering that I have been struggling to discern many aspects of my life, I found it incredibly helpful, and I will have to share some of her insights (please remind me if I forget to post them in the next week or two). Part of the reason I don't have the answers I am looking for may have more to do with me not doing my part than God not answering my prayers- since God always works through people and events in our lives. I often forget that and instead keep waiting for God to speak in a clear voice telling me what to do next and making certain decisions for me. I will have to go into this more another time...
The real reason I started writing is to let everyone know that a former DV (2008-09), Kelly Biddle, has been accepted as a Candidate for the Dominican Sisters of Houston!!! (She is in the early stages of discerning whether to join that community as a sister.) As much as I love the three sisters with whom I currently live, it is nice to have a change and especially to have another young person in the house (and the neighborhood). She moved in Friday and begins as a biology professor next Tuesday, so please keep her in your prayers as she adjusts to many things and embarks on this journey.
I am beginning to see why Sr. Pat calls our house the "Revolving Door Community." Not only did Kelly move in on Friday, but we are having Sr. Miriam who ministers in Guatemala come in for a few weeks starting tomorrow, and Sr. Mary Brenda who has been in Kenya for a while is moving back to the U.S. and comes to live with us on Wednesday. Chapter will be held this coming weekend, so we will also have Sr. Deborah in our house for those days. Basically, our house went from 4 months with 4 people living in the house to in the course of a week 6 women living there, plus visitors!! I am very excited to meet and get to know these women whom I have heard so much about (and to see our 10 bedroom house get a little more use), but I am also a little curious as to how we will share one refridgerator and one washer and drier, not to mention rearranging and adding furniture so we can all sit comfortably in the community room and chapel.
I pray that all of you are well. Please write more about your ministries and communities. I know that our mid-year retreat is fast upon us, but I would love to hear how everyone is doing (the joys and the struggles)!
Many, many blessings in this new year,
Kristen
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