30 Days of Gratitude: Day 20

On facebook during November many people post each day something for which they are grateful.  I enjoy reading the moments of gratitude and for me it is a peek into how grace is shaping their lives.

I have been craving writing again.  My fingers literally itch.  My life became very busy this past year what with the ordination, official deployment to a church in transition and then getting back into the workforce (no simple task for a stay-at-home-mommy of 12 years).  For a person who lives by the rule of organized chaos it’s been much more chaos and much less organized!  I am starting to get my groove back and for me that means adding back in my workouts (ugh!) and picking back up the pen/keyboard (thank you Jesus!)

Baby steps.  Today a 1 mile walk and a Grateful post.

Today I am grateful for the “Janie”.  What in the world is a “Janie”?  “Janie” is a female clergy insider word for removable clerical collar.  In other words I can pretend I am a superheroine and in a flash I can go from preacher girl to mommy girl and back to preacher girl.  In the life of this mommy deacon this is very important to me.

We all wear many hats and we have to choose when and how we wear them.  God called me first as a wife, then as a mommy, then as a deacon.  I don’t wear my deacon clothes on a date with my hubby, he wants to talk to his wife and he doesn’t need me to be his minister.  I don’t wear my deacon clothes when I go to my kid’s school functions.  They want me to be their mommy, not their pastor.  I wear my oh so trendy deacon clothes (have you seen female clergy shirts and albs?) when I am doing deacon work.  Today I have some deacon and mommy work.   This morning I am visiting the homeless shelter as they have rolled out the cold weather shelter and I am dropping off some travel size toiletries.  I have lots of parishioners and friends who travel and they always bring me back goodies from their hotel rooms.  Now that’s love!  Then this is American Education Week and my 4^th grader has his “living museum” today.  He has chosen to be Martin Luther King, Jr. and I am blessed to be able to see his presentation. 

Me:  “Why did you pick Martin Luther King, Jr. for the living museum.”

Little R: “Because he was a preacher and his Daddy was a preacher.  And because he believed in human rights and I want to learn more about human rights.”  (Can you hear my heart breaking open?)

Hubby:  “He believed in civil rights, son, he fought for civil rights.”

Little R:  “No, it was human rights.”

I agree with Little R on this one, human rights and we as humans aren’t always so civil to our fellow brothers and sisters. 

After his presentation I am off to preach at Noon Eucharist.  Can’t wait to see how he inspires me!

So, mommy deacon that I am the “Janie” is my lifesaver.  I can whip on the collar and be deacon, whip off the collar and be mommy and whip on the collar and be preacher girl.  Ah, organized chaos is back in the house.  Thanks be to God for the “Janie”.  

Truth be told we all wear many hats and we wear them all the time, even when they aren’t visible.  May it please God that our Light shines through all our hats and we work and play and minister to one another at all times and in all places.

“Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion.”  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.