October 2011, Vol. XXXI, No. 8
Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters
T
his summer I had such a wonderful family reunion at our house in Bethany. It made me both nostalgic and so very grateful. Nostalgic about old times on the farm at home and the great times we had as family; grateful for the wonderful people my family has evolved into today. I felt keenly the two pulls within me: nostalgia for the past and gratefulness for the evolution that brings us to where we are today. Feeling those two pulls made it very clear to me there is no turning back—life is forward moving.
Through the changing seasons of the year, The tree always lets go and lets be And becomes more fully the tree it is.
Nostalgia can make us like the Israelites who complained in the wilderness. (Exodus 16:23) ―If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread, but you (Moses and Aaron) have brought us out into this wilderness that we might die of hunger.‖ It seemed the Israelites nostalgically preferred their former situation of slavery in Egypt with the security of enough to eat to the insecurity of the unknown and the challenge of making their way to the Promised Land. Life is like that! We need to let go of what is behind in order to move forward into the unknown future. We need to take risks and be creative. Grateful for what was, we risk the unknown and with courage move forward in the direction in which we are being led. We live in a time of vulnerability where all the big institutions, including Church and government, which we humans fashioned over the years, are presently undergoing great stress. (continued on page 2)