Abundant Blessings

I've taken a study break from my life as a grad student to spend the weekend with my CSJP community for our Fall Assembly Day and other community meetings.  We have certainly worked hard and deepened our experience of contemplative listening and speaking as we move towards our Congregation Chapter next year.  We also prayed, celebrated, ate delicious food, and enjoyed equally delicious conversations.  I often think of our Assembly days as "homecoming." This year, in a way, that was literally true for me as I flew from Chicago to Seattle for the event!

I attended my first CSJP Fall Assembly nine years ago, which in many ways seems like a lifetime ago and in other ways seems like only yesterday.  I am so grateful for the abundant blessings that have flowed into my life as a CSJP since that first Assembly.

Then, I remember a deep "at home" feeling, even as I was introduced to this person and that and began the process of incorporation into the CSJP way of life.  At that point I was actually only an "inquirer," stepping gingerly into the mix of folks to see how/if I might fit.

Now, not only do I continue to feel at home, I feel deeply connected to this community of peace, past, present, and future.  I am loved just as I love each and every person, those I know well and those who I am still just getting to know.  Together, we are stepping into our preferred future.

The only way I can sum up my weekend and these past nine years is blessing upon blessing upon blessing.

(And exhausting.  Community days always remind me that I am an introvert deep down).

In the morning one of my CSJP Sisters has kindly offered to take me to the airport. I head back to Chicago and all that my time there holds (which in the immediate future is a lot of reading and research!).  But I know that I carry my CSJP family with me in my heart and in my prayers.