Wondering about my Wanderings

Still Writing

Life is filled with all kinds of surprises. That is what makes life so all consuming good. Last night I was invited to feast on a verbal fest that was freely given by someone who was a former Catholic nun. It was one of those experiences that one can only appreciate if one has experienced it before.

I grew up and knew a priest who decided to get married. He was a real neat guy. He was spiritual in all the right ways-he had a great sense of humor. I always wondered what it would be like to be part of that world. I was recruited to be a priest by Father Oddo in the seventies. I decided against it long before I was dating anyone seriously. I just knew I liked women and did not feel strong enough to keep myself celibate.

A lot has has happened since then. I became a pastor and learned over time it was just as difficult being a protestant minister. The challenges were there. Divorce was the monster that did me in and I felt eaten alive with no where to hide. I have become very philosophical since then. Writing is the best therapy I know to make any sense of what is increasingly hard to fathom.

Sarah and I spent a lot of the night talking together. She trusted me with all manner of information that I could never have imagined. The miracle that I can understand is that the brokenness finds ways to put lost souls back together. After it was over we went our separate ways and yet in a manner of speaking were closer because we risked to share even if our belief systems seemed so different.

There is a learning for all. We can stay on our own islands and know that we are right and no one will convince me otherwise. Or, we can come together and enter a mystery of wondering what it is like to be in a different place. I am glad I was part of an event that let me let go of a need to be safe. I was richer knowing that even if our stories are different our humanity serves to reminds us united we are strong like fibers joining to make a rope. Divided we fall privy to predators that would like nothing better than to prove us wrong. May the same love that brings us together bring us back together again.