E for Effort

As you may have figured out, I'm struggling a bit right now with writing. Don't ask me why. Life is good, but very steady and slightly boring right now. But, I'm trying to make the effort again. My wise friend Courtney says, "one must practice creativity."

I met with my new Merea last night at the Christian Women's Job Corps. I am a mentor in a program for women in poverty. A Merea is the Hebrew word for friend. We'll call my Merea "D." I won't lie, this time around is going to be a challenge for a variety of reasons. The last lady I mentored, "G," was very motivated and was well on her way to accomplishing her goals by the time we were introduced. I feel very illequipped to mentor "D," but that's where I'm going to have to be very trusting of God.

This past Saturday night, we celebrated Katie's birthday at "Bluebird on the Mountain." The Bluebird Cafe hosts a series of summer concerts on the front lawn of Vanderbilt's Dyer Observatory. It was such a calm, cool evening, and I enjoyed sitting there with a glass of red wine in one hand, a slice of brie in the other, surrounded by friends in lawn chairs. And, it's always a privilege to be reminded of Nashville's endless talent pool.

Katie, MA, Amy, Hadley, Arica

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. My book club book is a Pulitzer Prize winner called Middlesex. It's about the three generation-passing of a genetic trait for hermaphroditism. A girl is born in the 60s, but never menstruates, and finds out at age 15 that she is genetically a he. It's a weird, yet fascinating read. It could potentially be one of the best books I've read, based alone on the intricate and detailed character development.

Last week, I was invited to attend a listening party at work for Steven Curtis Chapmans' new album that hits stores in November. Steven was very transparent when he described his family's sorrow of the loss of his little girl last year, and all of the questions that one asks God through something like this. I'm not normally a SCC fan, but I haven't stopped listening to the pre-release copy I stole off Courtney's desk for the past week. The words to his songs are absolutely beautiful, and there are a couple of phrases that make tears well up in my eyes every time I hear them.

Speaking of work, we were notified recently of some major changes in how we structure our store zones. These changes affect me in a major way, but so far, I've not been given the resources or help to adjust accordingly. It's going to be a difficult process...even more difficult than the challenges I'm currently facing. I'm choosing to take it day-by-day, and do my best, despite this nagging feeling of failure I deal with constantly. I'm remembering John 8:44 in this.

Perhaps there is something going on inside my four walls that I won't talk about on this forum. But, it's good, and I do believe it might stick. It's going to require me to relinquish control and take a risk, and that's clearly hard for me. We shall see.

It just started raining outside, and that is such a beautiful sound to me. God sure does know how to love on me.