"'Good enough' is a divine concept." My former supervisor at Advocate BroMenn, Bill, left this comment on a facebook status update of a former chaplain colleague. I had heard other former colleagues say this phrase before about being a "good enough" chaplain and I was always intrigued by the idea. I'm not sure how "good enough" translates into other types of work. I would venture to say that being "good enough" is looked down upon in every other profession. We always have to be above and beyond the norm or the expected. I cannot be "good enough" in my interview. I cannot be just "good enough" at my job. I have to outshine all the others... at least for now. I think we are all raised to think that "good enough" is not good enough. That makes no sense, but at the same time, it does. "Good enough" is not actually enough unless it is better than others. I guess in chaplain-world, there is no com...
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I don't know... I just wanted to post this song. It's called "I Am" by the band Further Seems Forever. It reminds me of the summer before I met Philip. In fact, I talked about this album and song in one of my speeches during COM101--about how it could be about a significant other or about God/Jesus. Everything about it reminds me of how God might feel in relation to us. It could go so many ways. Like, people blame God for a lot of things in their lives. God can be good and God can be bad, depending upon where you're at in your life, your opinion at the time, or what you've decided about God. God could be a source of freedom or a source of restriction. God could be a source of life or a source of death or somewhere in between, perhaps a source of endurance. Maybe it's saying that God is all of these things at once, or none of these things. Despite all of this, God just wants a relationship with you--regardless of what you think or believe. I also think t...
Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever feel truly comfortable being myself. As it relates to this whole student affairs thing, I have to say that, I have yet to feel competent and capable. But it's more than that. Even within myself as a person, I often find that I leave situations thinking about how I could've been different and I struggle with how I'm supposed to be. Sometimes I wonder if I need to be more strong and then other times I wonder if I need to be more humble and appreciative. It's this really strange spectrum for me and I don't see how the two extremes fit together. It seems as though you're either kicked around or the one that does the kicking around. My whole problem is that I don't want to be seen as weak, but I also want people to see that grace is a part of my "philosophy." Other than that, I've been thinking a lot about giving praise to God. The book I'm reading, Pillars of the Earth , has a main character that is a prio...
Today I was orienting Joseph to different things on the computer and phone system when he stopped and said he was having deja-vu. He said that he thinks deja-vu is when you experience something that God has in his plan for you and that he knew he was where he was supposed to be. I thought that was such a great way of thinking of deja-vu. I just really like it. Today I for just a moment in time I experienced what I think was a motherly instinct. I was coming up from the cafetaria and decided to take the route that includes walking past the window of the Mother/Baby Unit where the babies are sometimes laying. There were these two adorable Indian babies who looked like they might have been twins. One in particular was gaggling around and opening her eyes (I felt like she was a girl for some reason) and I was just so happy for a minute and felt like I wanted one. Even as I was walking away I was struck in such an interesting way. Hmm...