The first of the firsts


This was our view of Liverpool as we sailed back in to England from Belfast last week. We took the overnight boat and woke up to a beautiful dawn sky, full of promise, ready for a new day.

Ever since we got back from our wonderfully relaxing, happy, family-focussed holiday, there has been a sense of anticipation of what is now imminent.  The "after Ireland" phrase was no longer applicable - we were now almost at the point of everything beginning. 

And that week is now here. The dawn has come and "the day lies open before us", to paraphrase the Morning Prayer liturgy.

This afternoon saw my first proper act as an ordinand, albeit not a particularly difficult one - going for coffee, cakes and Evening Prayer with the Bishop of Coventry and other new ordinands from my diocese. There was lots of discussion of college start dates and patterns of work/study and calm, reassuring words. I think the thing I appreciated most was Bishop Christopher's careful inclusion by name of all of our spouses as he prayed for us and our families. It is such a big deal for the whole family that I was grateful for this acknowledgement and that he had made sure he remembered not just our names but our husbands' and wives'.

I start my first full week of placement work tomorrow and I'm looking forward to getting going properly with this - there's lots I can be doing and lots to learn and understand. I have received a lovely welcome already at the church and I'm excited about getting to know everyone and seeing where God takes us together.

College induction day is Saturday and then the study starts in earnest next Monday.  Having booked my train tickets down to London and back for the next 6 weeks, I today made sure I enjoyed my last Monday morning for a while without a 6.30/7am train involved.  Those who know me well will know I am not a morning person as a rule so there will need to be plenty of good coffee involved in this new pattern of working!

So I have had the first of my firsts.  It's SmallBoy's turn tomorrow - his uniform is ready, school bag packed and lunch made and he will be embarking on his secondary school adventure tomorrow morning.  He's nervous and excited (but mostly nervous) tonight but I know that, as soon as he sees his mates at the bus stop tomorrow morning, he won't look back. I'm full of anticipation on his behalf - I can't wait to see what he loves and flourishes at and what he gets stuck into first.

We sang the song "I the Lord of sea and sky" at church yesterday morning and, as I sang the last chorus, the enormity of this week/term/year dawned on me and I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few quiet tears at the final words:
Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.

I am having to choose to not be overwhelmed at the moment - there are so many changes happening at once - but I know that God has called me to this, to "hold his people in my heart", and that he will lead me as long as I keep listening. And I know that I can trust him to hold my people in his hands and am praying that this new day he has laid open before us will be full of love and fun and adventure together.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of Many Talents

Image
My Grandma died on 30th April 2021. That is the bald, undecorated fact in one sentence. She was very frail and elderly, and couldn’t keep fighting illness and dementia forever. What those sentences can’t express, however, is how much those of us she has left behind will miss her or what we have lost in losing her.  I can’t speak for my whole family and all of Grandma’s friends – we all have our own memories. But I can speak about who she was to me and begin to pick out just some of the things about her that made such an impact on me. A pioneer Grandma was born in 1926, in a farmhouse without running water or electricity in the North West of England. This wasn’t that unusual at the time but it was much more unusual that she went to university in the mid-1940s to train as a doctor. Her mum had broken a few glass ceilings herself by going to agricultural college, but to train as a doctor was on another level again. Grandma didn’t finish her medical studies for various reasons bu
Read more

The End of the Beginning (or Time to Say Goodbye?)

Image
Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee There are some songs that follow you as you wend your way through different parts of life. Songs that are significant at key moments and keep popping up, as if they are there as a reminder to take notice of what you are experiencing.  There is one song that I first met years ago and which I have gone on to sing hundreds of times in different versions  and which has often marked an important moment in life. No matter  how many times I sing it, never loses its signficance.  This song is  Time to Say Goodbye , by  Francesco Sartori and Lucio Quarantotto. I first heard it in 1997 when I was staying with a close friend who was living in Germany at the time. It was a huge hit there, sung by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, and was played everywhere. I remember heading back to my home in France and making a beeline for the shops (because we didn't do streaming or downloads or, frankly, even internet then!) and buying the single, playing it over
Read more

Multiplication

Image
I went to see my Grandma yesterday. She enjoys spending time in her "happy places" - those bits of her memory where she feels secure and able to talk freely - so a lot of our conversation covers her childhood and her family and friends as she was growing up. However, there was a moment yesterday where she seemed to have a moment of complete clarity. She looked at me and said, "Just imagine. Your Grandpa and I started as just two people. And look at what grew from there!" Three daughters, three sons-in-law; six grandchildren and now six grandchildren-in-law; and, at the last count, eight great-grandchildren. Even taking into account the fact that my Grandpa is no longer around, that is a family of 27 grown from one wonderful, loving marriage. That is their legacy of love and experience. And it's not just about family. I have been feeling that way about long-lasting friendships recently. I have been trying to catch up with old friends here and there over t
Read more