A few weeks ago I was in Manitoba. One lovely morning I had nowhere to be and nothing I had to do. I felt like driving in the country, so I headed out of Winnipeg with no particular destination in mind. The fields were contrasted between new green shoots emerging from the surface to create the effect of perfectly manicured lawns and other fields of rich browns, the result of newly turned over soil. Spring was most definitely in the air. The beauty of this drive was that I was in no hurry to get anywhere so I felt myself relaxing and simply enjoying the scenery. I also had the freedom to turn wherever I wanted. Knowing I had the GPS handy if I did get lost, I allowed myself to turn onto the highway leading to Steinbach, and then onto a gravel road to Landmark, and back onto a paved road to Lorette.
As I was reveling in the freedom of my excursion it struck me that this drive in the country could be a metaphor for where I'm at in my life. I've now completed my second year of seminary with one more year left to go. I don't feel under pressure yet to think about what I'll be doing after seminary, but I am starting to imagine the possibilities. This year I was engaged in three practicums and I wondered if my hands on experience might narrow my focus - ...chaplaincy? ...spiritual direction? ...pastoral counselling? ...something else? What happened, though, as I received my final evaluations from supervisors over the past few weeks was that I was affirmed in all three areas of spiritual caregiving. When I sat down with my faculty advisor he told me that the spiritual caregiving field was wide open to me. Internally I didn't have a sense of calling to one area more than the others either. Something I did notice, however, was that in my chaplaincy practicum my faculty supervisor described me as an "unusually gifted spiritual caregiver" and in my peer supervision group for spiritual guidance practicum I was told that "God loves unconventional directors." There's a theme here! So I don't know what the destination will be but since I'm on a journey I might as well relax and enjoy the passing scenery, and turn whenever the Spirit nudges.
No comments:
Post a Comment