I've been too busy to blog lately. We've been slammed at work, which is great. Despite the constant gloom of the economic indicators and all that good stuff, people still need home loans. In addition to my regular load, I'm also taking on some extra work to help out our Gulfcoast division, where housing is, of course, booming (and complicated). I'm glad to be able to help and it's very interesting to see what the market is like down there. Even though it can be stressful, I love having a full load at work. I just wish I'd quit waking up at 3 am thinking of things that need to be done. I think I'll give up waking up at 3 am for Lent. Well, it's either that or junk food. I'll have to think about it.
My life hasn't been all home loans and sleepless nights lately, so I can't complain. Even though 2006 has not started off as the happiest year of my life and I've considered starting a presbyterian convent, I've realized that one of my purposes as a twenty-something single woman (besides the obvious fact that God must have other things in mind for me) is to give middle-aged women the pleasure of thinking they will be *the one* to introduce me to *The One*. It's quite entertaining, really. And, hey, if it works, who am I to complain? (I went speed dating for crying out loud. I'm practically shameless.) And if it doesn't work? Well, there's always the convent.
How did I start that last paragraph off with a sentence ending in the words "I can't complain" and end up complaining?
Anyway, I enjoyed my long weekend (many thanks to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for inspiring a federal holiday). A party here, a dinner with the girls there, a kiss on the chubby cheeks of the nephew and the nieces, and a nice warm house on a very cold day = ready to start a new week of goodness: hold the complaining (and hopefully, the convent, too).
*quote attributed to one Les Dawson
A presbyterian convent, huh? I used to want to start a reformed monastic community. But then I decided to marry Hollie. Honestly, I might still consider joining a monastic community if, God forbid, something were to happen to Hollie after the kids were grown. But I wouldn't start one now; I'd join an old one, which means it probably wouldn't be all that reformed.
I've always wondered why we Protestants have abandoned such communities. Maybe it's because we can't read 1 Corinthians 7 and take it at face value. We know we have to somehow reconcile it with Genesis 2 and the biblical norm of marriage (with the whole Christian story moving toward the glorious marriage supper of the Lamb), but we don't know how to reconcile these seemingly disparate visions, so we shrug our shoulders and throw 1 Corinthians 7 out the window.
Speaking of all this, I've been telling all my friends, perhaps ad nauseam, that Susan Howatch's Starbridge novels are the best thing I've read in a while on the church (specifically in the context of the Church of England), spiritual gifts, sex, marriage and family life, monastic life, etc, etc. The first novel is entitled Glittering Images.
Posted by: jon at February 22, 2006 01:36 AMThat should be, "I wouldn't start a new one...."
Posted by: jon at February 22, 2006 01:38 AMWhile I was mostly joking about the convent, I have been thinking about such communities lately and wondering why protestants don't do such a thing. Devoting your life to God in that way can't be all bad. Perhaps protestants (and especially Americans) dislike the thought of a monastic life being a "higher calling" than a married life. Plus, giving up yourself like that goes against the American Way of being all you can be. (This is mostly speculation on my part. Most of my ideas of what nuns are like come from The Sound of Music.)
I'll have to look for Susan Howatch's books. Thanks for the recommendation.
Posted by: Christin at February 22, 2006 08:33 AMIf I was going to join a convent/monastic community of some sort, it would HAVE to be co-ed.
I'm just saying.
Good way to meet people. Mingle.
[/funniness]
Posted by: WonderGirl at February 23, 2006 10:16 AMGreat idea, WonderGirl. Great idea.
I think I've been somewhere like that before. Oh yeah: college. (A statement which is only true of my college.)
Posted by: Christin at February 23, 2006 02:37 PMCoed convents? Wow...never in a thousand years could I have come up with that one.
Seriously, concerning Protestants lack of interest in such communities...I'll quote Sean Astin's character Rudy in the movie of the same name when he was talking to Father Cavanaugh when he arrived at Notre Dame the first day and Father Cavanaugh mistakenly assumed he was their to enter the priesthood- "No offense Father, but I don't think it's for me".
:D