Almost every day the rain comes now as May bleeds over into June. It’s as green as it can be, and every place less than level has become a pond. Ducks are having the best time of all why the rest of their kin huddle in trees waiting to make a quick break to the feeder between storms.
Like the winds that push clouds across Wisconsin’s driftless area it is the time of travel for those who serve the Church. Some of the voyagers will be new, leaving home for the first time after the safety of seminary. The letters have come, and the assignments given. So many details and so little time. Each new Priest is a mail order bride of sorts and both sides of the equation are hoping against hope that the other will be handsome, smart, maybe rich, but at least nice.
Others with time served have felt the need to move on. Pastors are most often for seasons in the life of a parish, and each brings something for a time then another link in the chain needs to be made. Some few stay for decades, most for years, and, occasionally, some never find a true home, but there’ll always be a moving van somewhere along the line as even if you retire you can’t stay where you left. Both furniture and memories need to hit the road sometime or another and everyone who wears the collar has a moving van in their future.
And always the question in the transitions. Did I do enough? Did I make a difference? Is there a “Well done good and faithful servant…” in it all or just walking away with a tail tucked between your legs? Sometimes the answer is clear but there are moments when you never know. Only heaven will ultimately reveal so there’s nothing but trust to lean on before that Day.
Still, it’s good to be where I am now as the clouds slowly give way to the morning. There are times when I wish I had a hometown like normal folks, a stable thing where good, bad, or otherwise I would be deeply rooted and sheltered from the storm. The truth is, though, that no one really ever has that no matter how long they live in a place. Everything changes and only eternity remains serene. I’m a child of another place and, in God’s good time, I hope to arrive.
The Beautiful Path 