Resting in The Spirit is Better Done at Home . . .

than in the car!

I had a really hard time getting to sleep again last night, and then had to get up and drive to Indy this morning for a day of Orientation for the Spiritual Direction Internship program. (the sisters at the Monastery call us the SDI folks, and every time I heard that I laughed because it made me think Strategic Defense Initiative and that is SO not me).

The day was so full of meeting people (although one of the instructors for the program is Sr. Barb, whom I have had in classes before; once at St. Meinrad and twice in the Ecclesial Lay Ministry program that I got kicked out of when they sent me to Saint Meinrad. It was great to see her again, and nice to know that I will have someone in there that knows me a little, being all shy and stuff.)

I am so bad with names, and we were supposed to try to begin to sort out people's names so that we can begin to remember them. It will take me most of the first semester to get names to go correctly with the faces in class. No matter how hard I try I struggle with people's names.

We did a really fun exercise where we had to choose a picture that depicted for us what Spiritual Direction meant. I couldn't find one that I liked, so I chose two Thomas Kinkade pictures and talked about This aspect of Spiritual Direction and how if I had taken a piece from one of the pictures and put it in the other I would have had a lake in the middle of a house, and that would not be good.

I also found out about the assignments:

weekly 1 page reflection papers

four 2 page book reflections that describe how the reading of the book affected my understanding of spiritual direction and ministry (including my conflicts and affirmations)

five 1 page article reflections similar to the book reviews

Three 5 page synthesis papers that integrate the lectures, readings and discussions

It may seem like a lot of writing, but compared to a few of the classes I took in Gradual School, and considering there is no right or wrong answer on any of them, they are simply a way for me to synthesize what I am reading, hearing, learning along the way. This should be a breeze so long as I don't put it all off till the night before they are due.

I stopped off to see mom at the nursing home on the other side of Indy before driving home, and was so wiped out that I really struggled to make it home without falling asleep.

So, I think I will take a judicious "power nap" and rest a bit in the spirit before I dive into the first article I brought home to read since my books haven't been delivered from Amazon yet. I checked this morning and they should be here by Friday.

I am so glad that I made sure that dinner was a crock pot feast tonight.

Pax