Too busy!

I got tagged by Zorra, but The Typist was out late, so we can't play tonight. She came home way too late, smelling like church and the band (I know what the band smells like, because they were all over here a couple of weeks ago). It gets busy that way for her before Christmas.

Maybe tomorrow night I can really blog!

Vet words

Dang it. The Alpha's been talking to the vet again. And of course then he talks to The Typist, who gets all down in the dumps. They're using big words like "ultrasound" and "biopsy" and "antibiotics."

Seriously, I feel fine.
Really, I do.

I don't know what the big deal's all about.

Proclamation

We, the dogs, would like you to know that we Aren't Getting Left.

We're just sayin'.

--Cub & Angus

A Confession

Hello... The Typist here, with a confession to make.

I'm not sure which is the proper thing to confess:

a) that I think I got this twinge in my shoulder because I'm aging and not in the best shape ever, or

2) that it may have come from overdoing it in yoga (and yoga, by the way, is NOT a competition, not even with yourself -- no, certainly not), or

iii) that it might also have something to do with the fact that last night, after I got home from yoga, I turned two cartwheels in my living room just to prove to myself that a 31-year-old woman can still do a cartwheel just fine, thankyouverymuch.

Opinions, anyone?

I'm off to choir, and then band, neither of which should mess with my rotator cuff. (Although you never know sometimes.)

Church fatigue

Went on a little Google hunt this evening. First, church fatigue. Results were mostly stuff about people visiting too many European cathedrals in the same vacation...sounded more like architecture fatigue to me.

Then I tried "church fatigue" -- in quotes -- and found this post from a guy in France I've never read before. He touches on what I'm feeling lately in his opening paragraph:

“Every church member who loves the church will also be deeply pained by it. This does not, however, call for discarding the church, but for reforming and renewing it.” This quote so reflects my thinking about the Church at the moment that I thought I’d share it with you. It comes from Transforming Mission by D. J. Bosch.

Thing is, I'm totally on board with reforming and renewing. But I feel like I have few reliable companions in the effort, at least within my own local community of faith.

When I was on church staff, we studied church growth patterns and discovered we were a textbook case of many churches our size -- stuck at a plateau. And, for various reasons, we're still stuck there. From my angle, one of the reasons we're stuck is that people keep discarding our congregation (I realize the textbook above posits a pretty solid theory as to why this happens, but the fact remains: it happens). I've seen a lot of people come and go at my local church, which bothers me. It also bothers me that I've let that very thing bother me for years...the going, especially.

My view leaves me bitter, and thus less able to be a reformer, a renewer, a co-creator with God.

There are inspired and dedicated people in our congregation working hard at effective mission and ministry. On my better days, I believe I'm one of them, and I see the difference we're making in the name of Christ. On my worse days, I make a mental list of families who've transferred to larger congregations in other suburbs (and where we live, there are plenty from which to choose while still remaining in the UMC). And on my absolute worst days, I wonder if I could back off and be one of those people who devotes just an hour a week to Christianity and thinks that's more than enough.

Where am I tonight? Well, I guess I'm somewhere between worse and worst. But more than anything, I'm just so flippin' tired.

So, I'd better go get some sleep, because I certainly won't get it tomorrow... Wednesdays are rehearsal nights, after all, and Easter's coming.

Please, Lord, let Easter be coming. Within me.